


Ava

by Flowerpot89



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adorable Draco Malfoy, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bad Albus Dumbledore, Bad Parenting, Child Abuse, Dudley is older in this fic, F/M, Good Fenrir Greyback, Good Lestrange Brothers, Good Malfoy Family, Good Severus Snape, Good Voldemort (Harry Potter), Harry Potter Has a Sibling, Horses, James Potter Bashing, Lily Evans Potter Bashing, M/M, Sirius Black Lives, Wrong Boy-Who-Lived (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-06-25 11:59:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 33,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15640311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerpot89/pseuds/Flowerpot89
Summary: What if there was a second Potter child? Abandoned and abused  for the greater good? What will happen when some of the most powerful wizards learn the truth?AU- Harry has a younger sister who was abandoned by their parents for fame and money.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any characters from the book/the films, they all belong to J.K.Rowling. I only own my oc.
> 
>  
> 
> English is not my native language and I have no Beta reader.

Harry Potter was the oldest child of Lily and James Potter, he was a bright child and his parents were proud of their little boy. A year and a few months later Lily was pregnant again. After what seemed only a short time she gave birth to a little girl. Noone besides her husband witnessed the moment a new life breathed for the first time. The litle girl was born with small black curls on her head and with the brightest shade of green you could imagine in her eyes. Her eyes reminded her parents of the color of one of the unforgivables, but you can't go around and name a child after a killing curse, so they named her Ava, Ava Lyra Potter. Ava was intelligent, even more than Harry, but she rarely showed it to her parents. Only her godfather knew it, he knew she would be a powerful witch one day. 

As Harry was the heir of the Potter line he was to be the brightest wizard in line, but that was only what the Potter thought. Because her godfather wanted Ava to be a heir too, he talked with her parents more than once about the ways he could make it possible. On her first birthday Sirius Black finally blood-adopted her and so she became the heir of the Black line. 

After one and a half years, in the middle of the war of light wizards against dark wizards, the Dark Lord came to visit the little family. It was a cold an dark night in October. He cam in the middle of the night and both parents had no time to react before they were stuned with a curse of the dark wizards wand. The Dark Lord went upstairs, straight into the nursery. The steps creaked beneath him and he could hear a child crying. When he walked through the doorframe, he saw the two children. The older boy hid behind his little sister and was crying. The girl just watched him with curiosity in her sparkling green eyes. Both children were born on the last day of July, only two years apart, that was all je knew. He knew a part of the prophecy and he knew he needed to kill both children, just to be sure. He inhaled deeply and threw the killing curse with a scream of "Avada Kedavra" at the girl. But instead of dying, the girl reflected the curse and in seconds the Dark Lord was gone. Only his wand and some of his clothes were left behind and a pile of ashes. The girl watched a small black cloud leave the house and with a loud crack the ceiling came crashing down.

When Lily and James woke up again, both were terrified. They ran upstairs and found both children alive. While Harry was still crying and had a nasty gash on his cheek, his sister was silent and watched her parents with big green eyes. 

This was the last day for Ava with her family. Many years will come and go before the wizarding world will see her again, despite all the effort from a certain Lord Black to find her.


	2. A missing child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter I struggled with the most and I really don't like it. But it gets better after this one, I promise. 
> 
> I will rewrite it soon, but right now I have no idea what I want to do about it.

Sirius Black was not happy with the Potters. They went into hiding short after Ava was born and he had adopted her into the Black family. Noone told him where they were hiding or what happend to his adopted daughter and heir to the Black line. He searched for Ava everywhere but to no avail. He even asked for help from the dark fraction. He never took the mark but swore his magic to the dark side and Lord Voldemort before he vanished. His father was proud of him and never disowned him, like he had planned to do after Sirius had adopted the light sides child. He died and left the Lordship to Sirius, who was now an important part of the Dark Lords ranks. His money and influence made a lot of things easier for them. Even the insanity that seemed to seep through the Black blood wasn't affecting him, so he was one of he few sane Black Lords and therefore had a lot to say in the Ministry and the Wizengamot. 

After the fateful night, when their Lord disappeared he was frantic, he knew the Potters had something to do with it and he was afraid for Ava. But because the dark marks were still on the Dark Lords followers, they knew that he was not gone and would come back. Now they only needed to find him and then could start to work on their old plans again. Sirius was very close to Narcissa, his cousin and her husband Lucius Malfoy and also to his former enemy, Severus Snape. They had done a lot of talking and finally came to the conclusion that James Potter was the reason why the Marauders had tormented him all those years ago. Sirius apologized for nearly killing him, when his lover Remus Lupin turned into a werewolf. Together they all searched for Ava but they never found anything. Even the Dark Lords most faithful and most successful werewolf Fenrir Greyback couldn't find her and was the one who always was able to find missing people. 

Meanwhile the Potters were living their life in fame. They had the Boy who lived as their child and noone except for Sirius asked what has happend to the other child. Ava was gone and fogotten.


	3. Severus to the rescue

Eigth yearts later Severus Snape was walking in muggle London. It was in the middle of June, but it was a cloudy day and there were only a few people outside. He was glad, muggles always made him nervous with their hate towards everything that was different. But he needed a few items from a apothecary, so this visit was inevitable. After he had purchased everything he went to a coffee shop. He sat down and was taking notes in one of his notebooks, when he heard someone yelling. 

"Come with me you freak, Dad is looking for you." A fat boy was holding the thin forearm of a very small girl in a bruising grip. Her clothes were hanging loosely around her thin form and even from where he was sitting, he could see that they were filthy.

"Please Dudley, don't take me back... please." She was pleading with a small voice, but Severus was sitting close enough, so he unterstood every word. As a spy he always relied on a good hearing. 

The boy dragged the girl in an alley and Severus rose to his feet and followed them after leaving a few pounds on the table for the waiter. The way the boy was manhandling the girl reminded him of the man he hated the most, his own father. 

"Come, I don't have all day and I don't want to miss your punishment. You are in for the beating of your life, freak." He spit the last word out and the small girl flinched. 

"No... please. Dudley.. please. Don't take me back to him.. please." The girl cried desperately.

The boy pulled at her arm violently and held her close to his own body. His other hand gripped her chin hard and forced her to look up. She looked at him with wide fearfull eyes, tears were streaming down her face. She swallowed a sob when he slapped her with the hand that had hold her chin only seconds before. 

"Have you forgotten where your place is girl? I will show you how worthless you are, you freak." With that he shoved her small body to the ground before he kicked her into her stomach. Rage clearly written all over his face.

"Dad thaught me what to do with you" and with that he opened his belt and pulled it out of his trousers. The girl was still crying and whispered pleas for the boy to stop. She curled up in a ball, her arms around her head when he raised the hand that held the belt, but before he could whip the girl with it, Severus stepped besides him and catched his wrist.

"I think that is quite enough" he said with a sneer towards the boy.

"Let me go, she deserves her punishment." 

"Is that so? Tell me why you think a mere child deserves to be treated that way." he demanded.

"She is a freak, she does freaky things and she has hurt my Dad with it. She deserves everything I will do to her." He said with so much hatred in his voice that Severus was sure that someday this boy would kill the small child, that was still crying on the floor.

Severus raised his wand and with a nealy silent "Stupefy" the boy fell backwards and Severus made sure he would forget about the small encounter and finding the girl. After that he walked slowly towards the girl, who was still cowering on the floor.

"Please... please don't hurt me, sir."

"Do you think I would safe you from this Dunderhead only to hurt you myself?"

She looked up and Severus saw the most breaththanking green eyes he had ever seen, except for the Avada Kedavra green eyes from Ava Lyra Potter. 

"No" she whispered and lowered her eyes again.

"Can you get up?" 

After a short silence he heard a small "yes" and the girl got on her knees and stood up on shaky legs. 

"What is you name, child?"

"Ava.. Ava Po.." and with that her eyes rolled back in her head and before she could fall to the ground Severus wrapped his arms around her small waist and held her upright. He looked around and after seeing noone around he apparated away.


	4. Examination

After appearing in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor, Severus cast a Patronus to tell Narcissa and Lucius that they should come to his room immediately. He knew he needed Narcissas help in healing the girl, that was still unconscious in his arms. 

He carried the small child, Ava, to his room and laid her carefully on his bed before he turned around and got his medical emergency bag out of his robes. His room at Malfoy Manor was one of the biggest ones, besides the Master bedroom of course. It was in the family tract with a wonderful view over the garden. But at the moment there was no time to enjoy all of it, he had an injured witch on his bed, a bed that seemed to swallow the small girl. When he had his bag in his hands, Narcissa and Lucius entered his room. Both had a panic-striken look on their faces. 

"Severus, dear, are you allright?" Narcissa asked before her eyes fell on the small child on Severus bed. "Who is this girl, Sev?" she asked worried.   
The girl was way to thin and she could see some bruises on her delicate arms and her neck. The rags the girl was wearing, were way to big for here and they looked like they would fall apart if one would take a mere look at them.

Severus swallowed before he answered "I believe I have found Ava Potter in London." After that he began to pull some vials out of his bag. 

Narcissa gasped and one of her hands covered her mouth while her other came around her waist as if to embrace herself, tears began to form in her eyes. 

She whispered a near inaudible "Ava" before she went over to stand besides the bed.

"Cissa, can you cast a full health exam on her? I need to know what potions she needs. I am not sure if I have everything or if I need to brew some more." He sighed. "She fell unconscious before I apparated us to your Manor. It's probably wise to give her a dreamless sleep potion before we work on her wounds?" Severus asked the shaken woman in front of him before giving her a vial of said potion. Narcissa nodded and spelled the potion into the girls stomach.

Lucius was stil standing in the doorframe when his wife looked at him.

"Luc, make sure Sirius will come here immediately. He needs to know, what they did to her." Lucius just nodded. She began to examinate the girls body, while Lucius left the room to cast a Patronus for Sirius. 

After what seems like forever the parchement of the health scan stopped growing longer and longer. 

"This is bad Severus." Narcissa said, her voice just above a whisper. Severus took the parchement out of her hands and began reading it himself. He muttered some curses under his breath before he said "I will kill them" in a dangerous and low voice. 

"Severus please turn around while I get her out of those rags she is wearing." He nodded and turned and walked out of the room. He closed the old wooden door behind him and waited outside of the room for Lucius to return. 

Behind those closed door Narcissa began her task and slowly, piece by piece, she dicovered all the wounds that were inflicted on the small girls body. Tears began to ran down her cheeks when she saw the dark hand shaped bruises on the girls hips and thighs. "Oh Merlin, please...." she whispered before she shouted in a not so ladylike manner "Severus, Lucius?"


	5. Sirius

The door was pushed open only seconds after that and both men came running to her side. Severus face was grim, when he saw what had the witch in front of him so agitated. He closed his eyes and his hand came up to his face to rub his forehead. A headache was coming in, rapidly. 

Not only was this child beaten and malnourished, someone had tried to rape her, if the markings around her underwear were something to go by. Severus hatred towards muggles only grew at the sight of the battered body on the bed before him. 

Lucius went over to his wife and embraced her, her tears were now running freely down her face and into her husbands expansive robes.

The sound of blazing flames alarmed them that Sirius Black had finally arrived. Lucius had told him to come to Severus' room immediately and that was where he was standing a few seconds after arriving. 

"What is the meaning of this meeting? Why have you ordered me here Lucius? I was planing some visits in order to find Ava with Greyback." He creased his forehead and looked at the three people in front of him, waiting for an answer.

"That won't be necessary, Severus has found her" Lucius said in his aristocratic voice before he and Narcissa stepped aside. 

Sirius eyes fell on the bed and his current occupant, his mouth slightly agap and his eyes widening, before he rushed over. He fell on his knees besides her and took on small hand in his big one. His other hand caressed her left cheek and he put one wild strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Merlin, what happened to you sweet child?" He whispered before his gaze went cold "Tell me you have killed those bastards." He growled trough clenched teeth. 

"I don't want to hear your angry words here, get out and discuss in Lucius study, but this child needs a quiet place and I don't want her to wake up while you are arguing." Narcissa shushed them, before either man could have answered. "Get out, all of you." and with that she chased them out of the room. She cloosed the wooden door behind them and paused before she let her forehead fall against the cool wood. 

She was deep in thoughts when she heard the girl stir behind her, slowly she turned around and with a deep inhale she made her way over to the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on I will update once a week, maybe more sometimes, but definitely once a week :)


	6. Waking up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't wait till the weekend, here is the next update :)

The first thing Ava noticed was that she was laying on something soft. At the Dursleys she only hat the old matress from Dudleys Baby cot, a thin and uncomfortable thing. She let her small fingers run carefully over the soft material, before her breath hitched and she was aware, that she was laying in a bed. Instantly she panicked, she wasn't allowed to sit on furniture after all and she knew she would be punished for even touching a bed and now she was laying on top of one. She was sure they would kill her for such a misdemeanor. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of the bluriness. Her breathing became faster with every second. As fast as her aching body allowed it, she got up and was now sitting on her knees, still stroking the soft sheet carefully. 

When Narcissa was finally near the bed, the girl was nearly hyperventilating and was whispering "notallowednotallowed" like a mantra before Avas panic filled eyes fell on her. They widened even more before she looked back down.

"I am sorry, please.. I- I am sorry." Her head hung low and Narcissa knew the girl was bracing herself for a punishment and her breathing was still way too fast. 

"Hush sweet child, I will not hurt you." She said softly and as calm as possible. "You need to inhale deep and hold you breath before you let it out. In... and out, in and out. That is right." 

"I am sorry." Ava whispered. 

"There is nothing to be sorry sweetheart, may I sit down next to you?" Hesistantly the girl nodded and Narcissa sat down. 

"Do you know what happened today?" Narcissa asked after the girl had calmed down enough to answer some questions. 

Ava began to chew on her bottom lip before again she nodded. 

"Can you tell me what happened" At that Avas eyes widened, but she kept on looking at the floor. 

"Please tell me." This time it was only a whisper but Ava heard it loud and clear.

"I-I made my Uncle angry... he-he.." she stopped and a tear began to run down her cheek. "he always." again she paused. 

Narcissa carefully took one of Avas hands in her own, she ignored the flinch and began to draw small circles on the back of it with her thumb.

Ava inhaled deeply and soon told Narcissa everything that has happened that day, she began with her uncle whipping her with his belt in the morning, her usual punishment, but this time instead of throwing her into her cupboard for the rest of the day afterwards, he had pushed her down on the couch when he came home later that day. He was drunk again, and had started to push her pants down. She had fought against him, she had begged him to stop but he was so much bigger than her and his hands were leaving painful bruises on her hips while holding her down. But before he had the chance to push her undies down, her magic had reacted. Her uncle was thrown against a wall from her accidental magic outburst and Ava had taken that chance. She had jumped to her feed, ignoring the pain and was out of the door within seconds. Unfortunately her cousin had found her. Narcissa knew the rest. 

Ava was a sobbing mess after telling her story to Narcissa and the woman pulled the crying child onto her lap and her hands were running soothingly over her back. 

"I am so sorry this happened to you, sweet child" she swallowed "but you are safe here. We won't hurt you." 

The child nodded against Narcissas body and her crying became silent. 

"You are at Malfoy Manor, I am Narcissa Malfoy and the man that brought you here is my dear friend Severus Snape." she stroked Avas hair and was glad that the girl wasn't flinching. "We all know who you are and we were looking for you since you were only a year old. And I know that there are currently three men in my husbands office that want to meet you. But I understand that this was a stressful day for you. I would suggest that you rest today and tomorrow we will talk a bit more, how does that sound?"

Ava had no words, the nice Lady was asking her what she was thinking? Noone has ever asked her that, what was she supposed to say?

"I... I guess you are right?" she asked instead of voicing her opinion directly. 

"Okay. Ava, I will give you a dreamless sleep potion, that potion will allow you to rest till tomorrow morning, please lay down." Ava did as she was told, still a bit unsure because she was still laying on a bed, but one of the Dursleys biggest rule was always listen to adults. So she laid down and Narcissa tucked her in after Ava drank the dreamless sleep potion. Noone has ever done that to her and deep within her she felt hope for the first time in her short life. "Good night sweetheart." And with that she closed her eyes and was asleep before Narcissa softly kissed her head and left the room.


	7. The Adults

After leaving the broken girl in Severus bedroom, Narcissa let her tears fall down. She had barely managed to hold her feelings together in front of the girl. She went to her husbands study where she found the three men still arguing about the "relatives" of Ava. Lucius was sitting behind is desk while Sirius was sitting in front of it. Severus was standig at the windows and was looking outside. Even though the room was only dimly lit, she saw the worry in all of the adults eyes. 

Narcissa coughed before she fully entered the room. 

Three pairs of eyes were watching her and all three men fell silent immediately. 

"How is she?" Sirius asked in an unusual small voice.

Narcissa closed her eyes before she retold everything Ava had told her only a short time ago. After she finished all three were shocked what the litle girl had to endure, but were glad nevertheless that her uncle was not successful. Attempted rape was bad enough but if he had been successful the girls mind would have been shattered even more, maybe beyond repair. 

They all vowed to protect the little girl, noone would ever hurt her again and her relatives soon would find out what it means to have three powerful wizards and one witch as an enemy. 

One of the Malfoys house elves brought them all tea and they sat down in the family living room to discuss the next steps. Narcissa was glad, that Draco was at Madame Zabinis house at the moment. Having a twelve year old curious boy around the anxious girl would be fatal. 

After discussing for nearly two ours all went to bed after a few wards on Avas room were cast, they would tell all adults when she would wake up or would have a nightmare. Sirius took his usual guest room while Severus went to the green guestroom, the one besides his room. 

The green room was decorated in light green and beige with a big and comfortable bed in the middle and a desk on the right wall. The left wall held two giant book cases, filled to the brim with old and valuable books. Next to the desk was another dark wooden door, Severus made a beeline to this door and pushed it open. He entered the bathroom with a sigh before he began to strip out of his clothes. He took a quick hot shower before he conjured an unused towel into sleeping pants . All of his extra clothes were still in his room, where the girl was currently sleeping. He brushed his teeth with a reserve brush, that a house elf had brought to him. He went to the bed but he lay awake thinking for surely another hour before sleep finally took him.

Narcissa and Lucius were sitting in their bed in the masters bedroom. Lucius had one of his arms around his wifes shoulders and held her while she was crying softly. When she calmed down she looked at him with red eyes.

"How could someone do this to her? The poor child. Her uncle told her,that it was her own fault. He wanted to rape her Luc, he wanted to rape her because she was showing to much skin around him.. They gave her those rags and he told her it was her fault." Another round of tears fell down her cheeks.

"I don't know, Cissa, I really don't know. Why was she placed with them? I am sure the old bastard has something to do with it. How could the Potters allow their child to suffer to such an extent? There are so many questions. Sirius will take her to Gringotts when she is fully recovered."

"May I ask why? We know who she is and we know that as an heiress Sirius is her magical guardian."

"You may ask, we want to know her full heritage. We came to the conclusion that the light side is hiding something. Why hide the child in the muggle world? They sure have enough money to hire some house elves and some tutors for a second child."

"That thought never crossed my mind. I want to keep her safe Luc, no matter what an inheritance test may show. She is a part of our family and I won't allow anyone to harm her again." Narcissa said with determination in her voice, leaving no room for doubts.

"I second that darling, we will keep her safe. But now you need your sleep, I am sure our guest will wake up early in the morning and your wards will alarm us in a few hours."  
Narcissa nodded and after a soft kiss on Lucius lips she laid down besides him and fell asleep after his arms came around her waist to hold her for the night.


	8. The first night

Sirius was unable to sleep, all he saw after closing his eyes were the scars on Ava's body. How anyone could hurt a child in that way was beyond his imagination. He had seen healthier torture victims in the war. 

He had looked for Ava all this time, but he never thought they would find her with muggles. How he could have been so blind, thoughts were swirling around in his head. He had never felt so useless in his life before. He was always successful, always, but he never was successful when it came to Ava. He was the image of a perfect Slytherin, a wolf in sheepskin. He had tricked everybody, his family, Dumbledore and all of the Gryffindors. He pushed the old ratty hat to sort him into Gryffindor, there he became one of the best friends to Potter. He even tormented poor Severus all those years ago. It was all a facade, a game. He had planned this carefully, the only person who knew about his plans was his beloved brother Regulus. He spied on the light side, they all trusted him, till the moment they didn't. He never knew why, but after he blood adopted Ava his plans began to crumble. When the Potters went into hiding and noone told him where they were, he knew his plans were busted. He suspected it had something to do with his denial to shun his friend and lover Remus because he was a werewolf. He would never turn his back on his lovely wolf. 

Instead he went to his father, told him everything and showed him all of his memorys. His father took him to the dark Lord where he had fallen to his knees and retold his story a second time. The dark Lord was impressed, he never required Sirius to take the mark, but he required that he should go back to the Order and keep on spying. His father was proud, after all those years when he wanted to disown him, his son finally followed in his footsteps. 

Sirius inhaled deeply, he swore under his breath that they would pay, they would pay dearly.

He would take Ava to Gringotts soon and he would make sure that noone knew what was coming. They would be the last ones laughing.  
With that he finally fell asleep.

 

All adults woke up with a start when the wards went off. Ava had a nightmare. Narcissa was the one who entered the bedroom, the men all waited outside in the hall. 

The girl was wimpering and begging in her sleep. She was writhing on the bed, hoping to get away from an invisible force that only her sleep induced brain could see. "Please.. no. please.. I'll be good. please.." she mumbled under her breath, like a mantra. 

Narcissa carefuly shoke Avas shoulder.  
"Ava, honey." she whispered, hoping to get through to the wimpering child

"I am sorry.. please don't hurt me... please" She coiled away from Narcissas hands.

"Ava, you are dreaming, sweetheart." Again she touched Avas shoulders and this time Ava woke up, with a start. She yelped and tried to get away from the touch. Sleep was still fogging her mind and she wasn't aware that it was Narcissa, who was standing besides her. 

"I am sorry." She whispered again. 

Narcissa sat down on the bed and pulled the small child on her lap, like she had done only some hours ago. She stroke her back and helt the now sobbing child close to her body.

"It's allright Ava, you are safe. I will keep you safe. It was only a nightmare, sweetheart." Slowly Avas sobbing became silent and soon her breathing evened. Narcissa looked at the door, where all three wizards were still standing, a small smile on her face. Ava trusted her enough to fall asleep on her, her heart jumped a bit and she increased her hold on the girls body, cradling her closer to her own. Carefuly she laid herself down on the bed, still holding the girl tight. 

With a last glance at his wife and the small child in her arms Lucius closed the wooden door and shooed the other two men back to their respecive rooms.


	9. The next morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, another chapter this week. I hope you like it, please leave some kuddos and comments, I really appreciate it :)

The next time Narcissa woke up, she knew immeditely that Ava was awake too. Her whole body was rigid besides Narcissas and she stared at the woman with wide frightened eyes. 

"Ava, sweetheart, are you alright?" She asked in a low voice. 

Ava only nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment. Narcissas hand came up to Avas face to stroke her soft hair and to put a strand of hair behind her ears. Narcissa ignored the flinch from Ava and asked in a voice full of love if the girl was hungry. Again Ava only nodded, unsure if she would get punished if she asked for food. The Dursleys always punished her for asking for something, even if it was only a glas of water after working the whole day in the sun outside. Sometimes she thought it would be easier to die of thirst or hunger than to face the rage of her uncle or her cousin. 

"Okay. We will have a lot to talk today, sweetheart. You can wash in the bathroom over here" she gestured to the door next to a big bookcase "and when you are done, I will come back for you, are you alright with that?" Again only a nod but after a few seconds she heard a small "Thank you" from Ava and she smiled at the girl. 

Ava slowly got out of the bed and made her way to the bathroom. While Ava took her time, Narcissa went to the master bedroom to wash and dress. 

Inside of Severus' personal bathroom Ava was standing in front of the mirror. She was looking at her reflection and was astonished to find herself looking healthier than she ever had been. Her long black locks weren't dull anymore and someone had combed out the knots before braiding it into a thick plait with a few strands falling out of it. Her green eyes were clear and after a few seconds she knew it was because she wasn't in pain anymore. Her whole body felt better and all the welts and bruises were healing. It was amazing. But after feeling something strange, was that what happiness was like? she worried what the price for their help might be. She began to chew on her lower lip before she closed her eyes.  
"She told me she would keep me safe, she will keep me safe. Oh please keep me safe."  
She opened her eyes again and eased her grip on the sink before she turned around and started to wash her body under a cold spray of water in the shower. She wasn't allowed to use the warm water at the Durlseys and she wasn't sure if she would abuse the hospitability if she would use it without asking and again she thought that asking for things only brough her punishments. When she came out she found a fresh pile of clothes on the stool besides the shower. She slowly put an the clothes and after brushing her teeth with the pink brush, which she was sure wasn't there before she went into the shower, she left the bathroom and went back into the bedroom.

Narcissa was already finished and was waiting for Ava to return. She was sitting on the large armchair besides the wooden bookchase, one of Severus' potions journals in her hands. When she heard the bathroom door creak, she layed the journal aside and stood up. She smiled at the now clean child and held one of her hands out for Ava to take. Hesistantly the shy girl took it and a small smile grazed her face before her eyes dropped back to the ground again.

"We will have breakfast with my husband in our personal dining room. Later today your guardian and Severus, the man that brought you here, will join us. That is, if you are ready for it." 

Ava carefuly watched the woman who lead her out of the bedroom, before she took her courage together and asked in a timid voice.

"What" she cleared her throat "what have I done to earn your generosity? What will I have to do to pay you?" 

Narcissa stoped and turned around to face the girl.

"Oh Ava, you don't have to do anything, you are just a child, you should play and have fun and not worry about payments or punishments." She crouched in front of the girl and carefuly stroke Avas cheek "You are safe Ava, you can be a child here. Do you understand what that means?" Her voice was soft and she smiled at the girl who leaned into her touch, enjoying the unknown gentle contact. 

The girl looked at Narcissa and nodded before she breathed "Yes, I understand".

Narcissa pulled the girl into hug and to her surprise she returned the hug. They remained in this position for a few minutes before Avas stomach began to grumble.

"Someone is hungry, come breakfast should be ready." She stood up and lead the girl to the dining room. 

The private dining room was one of the smaller rooms in the Manor. It was reserved for the family and close friends like Severus or the Zabinis. The table had space for ten people, four on each side and one at each end of the table. The table was made of dark cherry wood and heavily polished. The seats were covered in a dark green fabric and looked really comfortable. The room was light flooded and had several big windows. On the wall opposite of the wall with the windows there was a large fire place, the small fire inside was distributing a pleasant heat.


	10. Breakdown and waking up again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far.   
> Please leave a comment or a Kudo :)

Ava looked around the room in awe before her eyes fell on Lucius who was sitting at the table already. She came to a halt and Narcissa looked back, encouraging her to move closer to Lucius. The man was looking at his wife, before he looked down at his cup of tea. He made no sudden moves, so the shy girl wouldn't be frightened even more. He heard his wife and Ava coming closer and in the corner of his eyes he saw that Narcissa was helping the girl to sit at the table in a proper manner.

They were ready to start their breakfast, when one of the Malfoys house elves popped into the dining room, startling the girl. 

She stumbled off of the chair and shrinked back into the corner under one of the windows, her eyes wide and full of fear. When Narcissa walked over to her, she held her arms around her head protectivly and whispered "I am sorry" over and over again. 

Narcissa looked at her husband and back to the girl cowering on the floor. She crouched down in front of Ava and mumbled sweet nothings towards the girl. When she stopped with her mantra and looked up at Narcissa in front of her, she had tear tracks running down her face and her eyes were still wide and frightened. Narcissa held her arms open and waited patiently for Ava to make the first move. It only took a few seconds and she had the sobbing child in her arms. She held her close and whispered soothing words into her ears. When the girl went quiet in her arms only a few minutes later she knew that Ava had cried herself into sleep. The poor thing was deeply exhausted. Narcissa stood up, still holding the sleeping child in her arms. She moved her slightly so that she was now settled on her hips with her legs dangling on each side of her, one of her hands under her bottom and the other one on her back rubbing soothing circles. 

"She is so light Lucius." Narcissa told her husband in a concerned voice. 

"I assume she never had a proper meal, we need to feed her properly and Severus needs to brew her some nutrient potions. Bring her back to Severus' room, she will have lunch there when she wakes up again." He kissed Narcissas cheek and gave Ava a soft kiss on the forehead. 

Narcissa left the room and walked back to Severus' room. When she entered, she saw Severus standing at the wardrobe taking some clothes out of it. When he heard Narcissa enter his room, he looked at her and the scowl on his face softens immediately. 

"What happened?" he asked the exhausted looking witch in front of him.

"We went to eat in the family dining room and when she was sitting at the table one of the elves scared her. I should have told her about them." She looked at the girl sadly "She was so frightened Severus." she looked up at him, concern written all over her face.

"Lay her down on the bed, I will brew some nutrient potions for her while she is sleeping. I will come back later, should a problem arise in the mean time send Dobby for me."  
Narcissa nodded. "Thank you Severus."

"Of course." Was his only response before he left the room and went to his potions lab in the Manor.

The lab in the Manor was way bigger than his own at Spinners End. He also had the one in Prince Manor, but he never went there. He knew that Dumbledore would watch the Manor, the old fool was convinced Severus never took his titles. Oh how wrong he was. With the help of the Goblins, a mislead owl and reading some sealed wills, Severus became Lord Prince, but he kept the name Snape, so noone knew. The old fool was stil thinking that Severus was only a poor teacher, that could be ordered around. Only Lucius and Sirius knew he took his titles and till they had their Dark Lord back it would be like this. The other men took a Vow so even under Veritaserum noone was able to get an answer on that matter. Severus smirked, this was one of the nails on Dumbledores coffin but they had to keep it a secret as long as possible. Shaking his head to get Dumbledore out of his mind and pushing his occlumency shields into place, he took the last steps to the heavy door concealing his lab. Beeing a master in Occlumency and Legilimency were helping a lot when you have to pretend you are working as a spy for such an unstable person like Dumbelore. More than once the bastard had tried to take a look into Severus' mind, never succesful, certainly. He opened the door and set the wards back up again, so only Dobby was able to get to him. When the door closed he was already searching his shelves for the ingredients he would need for Avas potions. 

A few hours later Severus was filling the potion into some glass phials. The potion he made would last a few days and he was sure that Ava would need a different potion at the time his stock would be depleted. He left the lab and made sure that his wards were up again when he made his way upstairs to his bedroom and its current occupant.   
He felt Narcissas wards when he entered the bedroom, but said witch was nowhere to be seen. The girl wasn't the only one who needed a rest. Severus wasn't sure if he had ever seen Narcissa in such a state, but they never had someone like the Dursleys happening. Severeus groweled at the thought of those disgusting muggles. Dumbledore would pay, they all would pay. Leaving an innocent child with those fiendish pieces of shit. His hands balled into fists at he thought at what Ava had to endure in their "care". While he was thinking about all the ways he would like to show his mercy to the Dursleys, he wasn't aware that Ava was slowly waking up. Only the sharp intake of breath pulled him out of his thoughs. He looked over at the bed and at those beautiful green eyes that were looking at him. He held is hands up for her to see, another panic attack would do her no good. Her eyes fell to his hands and back to his face before she backed up till her back hit the headboard. 

"I will not harm you Ava, do you remember me?"

Again her eyes fell to his hands, before she nodded. He had to strain his ears to hear her soft "yes". 

"I brough you here Ava, you are safe in this Manor. No harm will befall inside of these walls." Again she nodded. 

"Ava" she looked up "I've some nutrient potions for you, I want you to take one with each meal, they will help you to gain a healthy weight soon."

Severus made a few more steps towads the bed, his hands still in front of him. 

"I know you are afraid Ava. We should have told you more about this house and us before you were scared even more. Would you allow me to sit down and tell you the most important facts?" He asked the girl in a calm tone, one he rarely uses, outside of this Manor he had to keep a reputation. He was the greasy git from the dungeon in the school and a traitorous death eater in Dumbeldores Order of the Phoenix, well with the last part they were right but of course noone knew he was one of the traitors for real. He watched the emotions flash through the girls eyes, those beautiful big green eyes, Lilys eyes. 

His first love and one of the persons he now hates the most. The shy loving girl with her wild red hair he fell in love with in his youth was long gone, there was only a mercenary, corrupted shell left. Meeting James Potter did her no good. The spoilt, bullying Gryffindor had stolen the innocence of his childhood friend, not that he had to force her, it was her own decision to become one of the most disgusting persons walking on this planet. He pushed those thoughts behind is shields and waited for the girls decision.

She nodded and told him in her small voice "Please, b-but I don't want to bother you."

"You are not bothering me, I offered it and I am a man of my word. May I sit on the end of the bed?" 

Her eyes became even bigger for a short moment and a flash of fear appeared before ahe nodded again, she pulled her knees up to her chest and embraced them with her thin arms and puled them even closer to her body. She then laid her head down on her knees and watched him while he was slowly sitting down at the end of his own bed. His right knee was perched up on the bed so he could face the girl.

"Alright. I assume that your relatives never told you about your ancestry or your parents?" He asked the girl.

She shoke her head no "They said I am a freak" it was only a whisper but Severus heared it loud and clear and again he wanted to kill those muggles.

"You are a special child Ava, not a freak, never a freak. What if I told you, that magic is real?"

Her eyes again were wide at his question. "Magic isn't real." She squinted her eyes shut and was shaking her head no. When he spoke next she stopped shaking her head and opened her eyes again.

"Oh sweet child, you will find yourself in a whole new world. I am a wizard and so are you, well you are a witch but you are a magic child nonetheless." 

She pressed her lips together so there was only a thin line left, and her eyes were watching him, like she was expecting he would laugh any second.

"Would you believe me, if I would show you ?" 

Again a nod. 

After that he took out his wand, ignoring the girls flinch and began to cast a few spells. He lit up he fire in the fireplace with a whispered incendio and extinguished the flame with a likewise whispered aguamenti, next he lit up the light on the bedside table with a lumos and turned it off with a nox. With every new spell he showed the girl her small smile grew wider, she was clearly enjoying his show. 

"Magic is real" She exclaimed after he had put his wand back into his wand halter hidden under his robes. 

This time he only nodded and watched the girl process everything he had shown her. 

She stretched her legs out and let her hands fall into her lap. 

"So I am really a witch? Not a freak?" She asked him with so much hope in her voice, hope she probably never felt before. 

"Yes Ava, you are a witch and I will help you to get the hang of it." Before he could tell her even more, he had the small child in his lap, with her small arms wrapped around his neck. Hesistantly he put his hands on her back and began to rub soothing chircles on it. 

"Thank you so much, sir." She whispered into his hair before she inhaled sharply, realising what she had done and began to scramble back, but Severus' arms around her held her in place. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have done that... I am sorry" she mumbled.

"Hush child. You are fine. I am a bit surprised by your outburst but also I am happy about it. It is a start for your new life, Ava. And my name is Severus, sweet child." He held her for a few more moments before he felt her nod her head, after that he let his arms fall to his sides.

"Thank you, Si-Severus. For everything"

"I would do it again, Ava. I am glad that you are here now. Should I tell you a bit more about this place?" 

"Yes, please. Is it.. can I.."

"Yes, Ava you can stay where you are, I don't mind and I am sure you need every bit of comfort I can offer you." 

She looked up to him and there was that beautiful smile again, he felt the corners of his own mouth form a small one too.


	11. Seeing the memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains child abuse and attempted non/con.

Narcissa was watchig Severus and Ava. She was sleeping when her wards had alarmed her that the girl was awake. She walked over to Severus room as fast as possible after dressing up again. 

She had tears in her eyes, she knew that the girl would bond with Severus and her the fastest, he was the one that had saved her and she was the one who helped her since she has woken up for the first time. But seeing Severus acting so tender towards the petite girl was something she wasn't expecting to find when she heard her wards go off. Seeing she wasn't needed at the moment she decided to go back to the family dining room after casting a tempus. Lucius would already be there as it was close to lunch time. Maybe she could talk to him and Sirius a bit more about the plans the men made the day before. 

Meanwhile in the dining room Sirius and Lucius were discussing the next steps. They would wait a few more days and then they would take Ava to Gringotts for an inheritance test and maybe a purge. They still believed the old fool and his cronies had done more to the girl than dumping her at the Dursleys and let her be abused by them. 

"I need to speak to Narcissa, I want to talk to my heiress, I need to know what they have done to my cub." Sirius told Lucius, both men weren't allowed to walk into Severus bedroom. They would have to wait till Ava would be ready to talk to them outside of her safe haven. They had hoped to talk to her a bit at breakfast but that hope was ruined when the houseelf had plopped in. Sure it wasn't the elfs fault and Lucius had to talk to her after the happening so the little creature wouldn't punish herself for scaring the little witch, but it had thrown back every improvement Narcissa has made in the short time. 

"I know dear friend, but we need to act carefully around her, she was already hurt so much. We still need to think about a punishment for those muggles."

Just then Narcissa walked into the room.

"Ah two of my favorite men in this house at once." She smiled at Sirius and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek before sitting down next to him.

"How is my little cub?" Sirius asked.

Narcissa sighed before she answered him. "She was a mess after the incident with the elf, but she cried herself asleep. I've put wards around Severus room that would alarm me in case she would wake up before me." She smiled weakly at her husband. "I think this whole thing affects me more than I thought." And again she sighed. "I fell asleep only seconds after my head hit the pillow." 

Both men snorted at that and Narcissa glared at them in return. 

"When the wards went off I hurried to Severus room only to find her already in his arms. He is telling her more about magic and this Manor at the moment. I believe he will let us know when we can see her next."

"Sev is with my cub? Do you think she bonded to him already because he rescued her?" Sirius asked the still tired looking witch in front of him.

She nodded. "Yes, that is what I was thinking. He was the first to act against her violent family. I think he was the first person that was concerned for her ever, she will need more time with everyone else."

"Alright, Severus has my complete confidence. He will know what is best for my small heiress. He is the only one that knows what it is like to have a violent family." Sirius closed his eyes for a moment. Sometimes it was still hard for him to think about everything one of his best friends had to go through and he was one of the reasons for many years. Sure they had talked about everything and Severus understands why he had done it all but he still feels guilty. 

The Malfoys nodded in understanding.

"I will floo back to Remus for today, please let me know when you know more or when she is ready to talk to me." Sirius stood up and was walking over to the fire place. He bowed to both of them and grinned " I can't wait to show her what it means to be a heiress and I want to see the faces of the cronies when they see her again. She will show them all what it means to mistreat a Black." 

"She will, and we are glad we could aid her and the noble and most ancient house of Black." Lucius bowed with a smirk, he loved those moments when they would tease each other. 

With a flash of brigth green light Sirius vanished. 

Lucius looked over to his wife. "My dear, should we have dinner now?" He kissed her on the cheek and after a small nod from her he led her back to the dining table. Only seconds later two plates with a hearty meal on it appeared. 

They ate in silence, both were deep in thoughts about the girl only a few rooms away from them.

_________________________________

When Severus was done telling Ava everything about magic and the Malfoys and her magical guardian Sirius Black the girl was still in awe. There was so much to take in and he knew she would have a lot of questions on her mind. He knew she would not ask those questions immeditely, so he waited patiently. After a few minutes of waiting she finally opened her mouth.

"Am I allowed to ask questions?" she asked in her small voice, still unsure about everything. Severus had told her that noone inside of this Manor would ever raise their hands against her or every other child on that matter. 

"Yes you are, knowlege is one of the greatest powers in our world so you should ask every question that is on your mind. That is the only way to gain the power of knowlege. Just go on, dear child" 

Again she smiled at him and he knew that some day this smile would be the death of him. He knew this girl for only a day but the deep desire to protect the petite green eyed witch was a new feeling, he never felt that urge before, not that deeply. He was protective of his snakes, he was even more protective of his family, but the protectivness he was feeling at the moment was new and unfamiliar. 

She asked him all her questions, hesitantly at the beginning but with more confidence at the end. She now knew everything about the wizards and the witch in this house, about Sirius and about Severus. He told her everything she needed to know about light and dark magic and the war. He told her about the Dark Lord and the light side including the Order and his part in it. He wanted to have a clear start with the girl without later surprises. He knew he could scare her even more, but she took his explanations pretty well. She was a bit unsure of her position as a heiress and all the politics but Severus told her that Sirius and Lucius could tell her more abour it. 

"Thank you Severus, for everything" She said after their talk and hugged him again. 

"It was an honor." He bowed to the girl who in return started to giggle. Oh what a beautiful sound that was. He vowed to himself that he would make sure she would only know love and affection in her new life. 

Again she hugged him and he hugged her back. He inhaled deeply before he released her. She still was sitting in his lap. He took his left hand and caressed her cheek with it before he carefully lifted her head so she was looking at him. Her eyes were scanning his face before he spoke again.

"Ava, would you show me what has happened at the Dursleys?" He had told her about the different ways to share memories with other wizards and witches, but he was unsure if she would show him her past, it was a deep act of faith to let someone into your own mind. 

He saw it in her eyes that she wanted him to see but that she was fearful too. He knew the reason.

"I will be gentle Ava and I will not hold the things you will show me against you. But this is the only way we can know what has happened there without you retelling every detail."

She nodded "You will see all my mistakes.. please don't hate me." She looked to the ground, but Severus was still holding her chin in his hand. He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"I would never hate you sweet child. I need to see it to punish the Dursleys accordingly."

She nodded again and liftet her eyelids up. "Okay" she breathed. 

"I will be as gentle as possible but I know you have to endure everything again, you can throw me out of your mind when it will get too much okay?" 

"I" she swallowed before she continued "I trust you."

At this a warm feeling was flooding Severus body and he smiled at the small witch in his arms. Never had anyone besides his family told him that they trusted him.  
He whispered "legilimens" and was drawn into her first memory immediately. 

She was about three or four in the first memory she showed Severus. He saw the small girl laying in a cupboard, with only a thin matress on the floor. There was a small painting on the wall which told him that this was "Ava's room" he swallowed his anger, he still has to be gentle or it would hurt the girl even more. He heared a loud stomping coming from over his head and the girl in front of him whimpered. Seconds later the small door was opened and a whale of a man grabbed the small child with an ironlike grip on one of her thin arms. 

"Make breakfast freak and don't burn the bacon again, you know what will happen when you do it again." 

"Yes sir." Was the whispered answer from the small child, before he pushed her into the kitchen. She stumbled towards the counter and began to prepare everything. The bacon was frying in the pan and the eggs were nearly ready when a women and another child came into the kitchen. He immediately knew the women, it was Petunia, Lilys sister. A sister who hated magic and hated Lily.. he couldn't understand why the Potters had dumped one of their children with such a monster. But before he could think more about that the fat child, he recognised him, that was the boy that was about to whip Ava only one day ago, kicked against the stool Ava was standing on. The small girl shrieked at the sudden sensation of falling and seconds later she screamed when the hot pan with the frying bacon landed next to her on the floor. Some of the fat from the pan landed on her naked left arm and was burning her skin. 

The whale of a man jumped at his feet and came over to the crying child. But instead of helping her he grabbed her arm, the one with the burnt skin, and dragged the screaming child behind himself to the cupboard. The whole time he was screaming at her, how ungrateful and what a burden she is. That freaks don't deseve first aid and that she won't get food till the rest of the week. Than the door was closed behind her and the lock fell into place. The girl was still crying behind the thin wooden door. 

Everything went fuzzy and Severus was drawn into another memory.

This time Ava was older. She came home from school, Severus suspected. She handed her Aunt a letter, who read it and only seconds later crumpled it. She called for her husband who came from the living room seconds later with an angry scowl on his face.

"What has the freak done this time?"

"N-n-nothing sir." the girl immediately told him while still looking at the ground. 

"Her teacher wrote us, that she needs advanced classes because she thinks that the freak is to intelligent for the normal stuff." 

The mans face was red within seconds and he lunged at the small child. 

"Do you think you are something better freak?" 

"No sir.. please... I haven't done anything... please don't hurt me" she whispered and her eyes began to fill with tears. 

The man grasped her school stuff and threw it into the cupboard before he grapped the small child by her throat and pushed her against the wall. Severus saw Petunia walk out of the room.

"I will show you what happens to people who think they are better than us."

She clawed at the hand around her throat and tried to speak to him, but wasn't able to. With his free hand he opened his belt and yanked it out from his trousers. He then tossed the girl to the ground and began to whip her with the belt. He stopped long after the girl below him went silent. Severus counted over forty hits and was shocked, the girl had fallen unconscious after 28 hits and still the bastard had continued. 

Again the memory became fuzzy. Severus saw several similar memories, sometimes she was punished for accidental magic, or again for better marks and even for asking questions. 

The next memory was the last one, he guessed. She was wearing the rags she had on, when he had safed her. 

She was cooking in the kitchen when her uncle came home. Severus knew instantly that he was drunk again. When he came into the living room his wife and son got up from the couch and Petunia grabbed the car keys. Both walked around the swaying man and left through the front door. 

Meanwhile the girl was watching the scene with wide eyes. Severus had seen a few memories whit her drunken uncle. He was even more voilent towards her when he was in that state of mind.

She backed off, but soon she had the kitchen counter behind her back and there was no way to escape her uncle. 

Said man took the few steps towards her and took hold of her hair before he dragged the whimpering girl into the living room. He threw her on the couch and was on her in seconds. She tried to escape his grasp but to no avail. He was way to heavy and he was holding her down with both of his hands. His knees where on either side of her legs, trapping her even more under himself.

"Stop the wriggling at this instant freak." He backhanded her. Leaving her with another bruise.

"Please, let me go." She was crying but his grip on her only intensified.

"I will show you what you are worth. You are nothing but a burden and it is time to pay something back." 

The girls crying got louder and she was pleading. She tried to push him away with both of her hands on his chest. Between sobs she pleaded with him to let her go and to stop.

"Oh girl, I like it when you beg." His meaty hands were making their way down her small body. One was holding her at her hip and the other was travelling into her pants.  
Her breath was hitching in her throat when his hand began to push her pants down. 

"Nonononono..please. Oh god, please don't do this." her begging became more desperate with every second. 

Severus was standing in the corner furthest away from the scene. How could her aunt leave her alone with this pig of a man? He wanted to help her, he wanted to stop him but this was only a memory, there was no way he could stop it and he knew he needed to watch it till the end. That was the only way he could help her recover from it. And so he watched everything.

"Hmm, your skin fells like silk, I can't wait to defile your smooth body." Ava scrunched her eyes shut. The tears were still running down her face but she stopped her pleas and was only sobbing now. 

"You know, this is all your own fault. Always running around showing off your skin. Only a fool wouldn't take that invitation."

She tried to fight him off again, but again she had no chance. He grabbed both of her frail wrists and held them with one of his meaty hands abover her head. His other hand was now under her shirt, caressing the skin of her stomach. 

"Petunia and Dudley won't be home till I call them, so I have all time of the world to relish your young body and to break you in every way I want." 

Severus wanted to choke the man, he wanted to choke Petunia too. She must have known..

He stared at the two people in front of him and hoped, he begged that she could stop him soon.

When her uncle tried to push her pants down again he was thrown against the wall, only a few feet away from the spot Severus was standing. Her magic has kicked in and had pushed that bastard away. 

Ava instantly scrambled to her feet and ran out of the room and out of the house. 

With that the memory began to fade away and Severus was pushed out of Avas mind. 

The girl was a sobbing mess in his arms and tears were running down her face. She was weeping bitterly and his hold on her tightened and he pulled her closer to his own body. He was glad that he could shield his emotions, he wanted to cry with her, wanted to cry for everything this girl had to endure at the hands of her relatives. But he needed to be strong for her and so he was strong. 

"Shh, you are safe Ava. You will never go back to them again. I will keep you safe." 

She hugged him even more, her small hands were balled into fists, holding tight onto his robes.


	12. Getting better

He held her for a long time, before she finally calmed down. 

"Ava, you need to take your first potion and then you need to eat something." Again he caressed her cheek with his hand and made her look up. "Your body needs every meal you can get. I also want to you to have at least a small snack every hour, some apple slices or a small portion yogurt." 

She nodded and took the offered potion out of his hand. She sniffed at the phial before she drowned it in one gulp. She grimaced after she swallowed the potion.

"Ugh, do all your potions taste like that?" She asked him with another grimace on her face. 

Severus chuckled and looked at the wide eyed girl, talking out loud was a new experience for her and he would make sure that she knew that it was okay and appreciated as long as she won't become cheeky. 

"Unfortunately, yes all my potions taste that bad. They are more effective without flavors."

She smiled at him and gave the phial back to him.

"Are you ready to face one of the houseelves?" She nodded. 

"Dobby" Severus called.

With a plopp one of the small creatures appeared in the room.

"What can Dobby do for Master Snape and little miss?" He asked and Ava watched him enthralled by the small elf in front of her.

"I want two plates with breakfast, a small one for Ava with friuts and some eggs, I take the usual." Ava was now sitting next to Severus, closer to where Dobby was standing, her curiosity was now stronger than her fear, after Severus had told her everything about house-elves.

He was nodding his head excitedly, "Yes Master Snape, Dobby will bring food." and with that he plopped out again only to be back a few seconds later. He had two plates in his hands, one was filled with some fruit slices, a bit of scrambled eggs and a small pancake. The other plate was filled with a larger portion of scrambled eggs and some bacon. Severus took both plates after thanking Dobby who left after that for the last time. He gave Ava the smaller plate and both began to eat in silence. Severus knew it was lunch time already, but he didn't have breakfast in the morning and Ava should only eat light food, so this was the best choice for both right now.

Ava was full after half of the pancake and most of the fruit. She only ate a small amount of the scrambled eggs. 

"Are you full already?" Severus asked her after she had stopped eating.

"Yes." She told him. "It was really delicious, but I am not used to eat a lot." She said while rubbing her belly. 

Severus only nodded and after he finished his own breakfast he took the plate out of Avas hands and gave them to Dobby who was suddenly standing near the bed again. He left with the plates and Severus and Ava were alone again. 

"Ava, would you like to meet with Narcissa again?" He asked her after a few minutes of silence.

"I am not sure. Could you maybe stay for a little while longer?"

"Yes, I can do that." 

"Can you tell me more about my guardian?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?

After a few seconds of silence Ava hesistantly asked her first question and soon they were engrossed in another conversation. 

They sat together till it was time for dinner and again Dobby brought both of them their plates. 

Narcissa came to Severus room after she and Lucius had dinner together and asked Ava if she could borrow Severus for a few minutes. After the girl had nodded, Severus and Narcissa made their way into the study on this floor. Narcissa closed the door behind them and warded the room with a silencing charm. 

"How is she?" was her first question.

"Fine at the moment, we talked a lot about our world. She now knows everything about us, about the sides in the war and about our Lord. She is a bit afraid of what will happen when the Dark Lord returns."

Narcissa nodded, she could understand why the girl was worried, the Dark Lord was the reason for her miserable life. 

"The Dark Lord is the reason I wanted to talk to you. Sirius just gave us a message through the floo, they have found all of his Horcruxes and as is wraith form is at Slytherin castle already, they are ready for the resurrection ritual and want to do it after they went to Gringotts with Ava." 

"Are you sure that we have all of them? Where were they?" Severus asked the agitated witch. 

"Fenrir found Marvolo Gaunts Ring, Sirius was able to get Helga Hufflepuffs Cup out of Bellatrix' vault and Lucius had the Diary. Then there is Salazar Slytherins Locket and Rowena Ravenclaws Diadem, both were already at Slytherin castle and the last one is Nagini. But the snake only hold a small part of his soul, so Fenrir and Sirius think they can do the ritual without her."

"So the wolf was useful at once." Severus mused. "I will prepare everything, let me know when they want to do it and I will be ready."

Narcissa nodded again and cancelled the silencing charm before she let Severus out of the study and back to his own bedroom. Ava was still inside and had one of Severus' potions books in her lap. Narcissa smiled at the scene in front of her and held her right hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from disturbing the peaceful scene. Severus too had a small smile on his face and both stood in the doorframe for several minutes before Ava looked up and saw them. She was smiling at them both with the widest smile Severus had seen on her face till now, but still without showing her teeth. 

"Are you ready for the night?" Narcissa asked her and she shook her head no, before Narcissa continued "Well then, hush sweet child, brush your theeth and then it is time to get into bed." 

Ava got up and walked over to the bathroom, she closed the door behind her and the adults were still standing in the doorframe. 

"I will read her a story, do you think she will need a potion tonight?" Narcissa asked the wizard next to her.

"It would be wise, but only for today. We need to work with her on her nightmares, I will show you her memories when Sirius is here again." 

"She let you use legilimens on her?" She was surprised, that would mean that Ava was trusting Severus with everything and thi was the moment she knew, that he would be a big part of Avas life now and probably forever. 

Severus nodded and his face was blank again, all emotions from the day bottled back up again. 

"Oh don't give me that face Severus, we are friends. You can look at the Order like that but not at me." She playfully poked his arm at that. 

Severus smirked at her and left after giving her the dreamless sleep potion. 

When Ava returned Narcissa walked over and after asking the girl if it was alright she sat down next to her on the bed and began reading a story to her. She gave her the potion after a few chapters and soon the girl was fast asleep in her arm. Carefully she repositioned the young witch and tugged her in after getting up. She gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and closed the wooden door behind her, after taking one last look at the peacefully sleeping girl.


	13. Going to Gringotts

The next few days flew by and Ava was still having breakfast with Severus every day. She was gaining weight and was feeling better each day. Lunch and dinner were held at the family dining room and slowly Ava got to know Lucius. She was still a bit wary about the blond wizard but she trusted Severus and Narcissa enough to try it. Severus was her ancor, he helped her when she was unsure and held her when she was afraid. She trusted Narcissa a lot but not as much as she trusted Severus.

When she was comfortable around the three adults, they invited Sirius over for dinner that day. Severus had shown Avas memories to all three adults and all knew how they should handle the girl. They knew what to avoid around her and that helped them all a lot.

So when Sirius flooed over that evening he was acting different. Normaly he would go around and hug all of them and he would be loud and boisterous. But today he was cautious and his voice was on a lower level. He waited for Ava to be comfortable even if it was a bit irritating that she was sitting on Severus lap. But if that was all she needed to be comfortable, then so it be.

They talked the whole evening, Sirius was impressed about the amount Ava knew already, but he knew that he had to thank Severus for that.

"So little cub, are you ready to visit Gringotts with me?"

Ava watched him with her big green eyes and nodded timidly.

"Would you like Narcissa to come with us?"

This time she nodded strongly.

"Alright cub" he laughed, "then she will come with us." He winked at the girl and was still smiling brightly. "I will take my leave for now, tomorrow will be a long day for all of us. May I hug you little one?" he asked Ava.

"Yes" was her whispered answer, which brough another smile to Sirius' face.

He carefully came over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, it took her only a few seconds to hug him back. He stood up again and bowed at the rest of them and left with a big grin on his face through the fireplace.

Narcissa escorted Ava back to Severus' room.

"When we come back from Gringotts, we will set a room up for you, the guest room across from Severus' room is unused and we can furnish it the way you like it. How does that sound?" She asked the girl that was holding her hand at the moment.

She looked at the older witch with wide eyes, "my own room?"

Narcissa gave her a smile and nodded. "Yes, your own room and you are still next to all of us."

"That would be fantastic, if it isnt't too much effort."

"No it isn't sweetheart. In two days my son will be back from his vacation with the Zabinis, he knows that you are here and he wants to get to know you. Severus told you about him, he is just two years older than you." Narcissa was smiling the whole time. She loved her son and she was proud at how grown-up he was taking the whole situation. She also was glad that Lady Zabini was able to keep her son for a few days longer.

Ava tugged at Narcissas hand and when the witch stopped and turned around Ava hugged her "Thank you so much for doing all of this for me."

"Always" she hugged her back.

When they were back in Severus room, Narcissa tugged Ava in and gave her a kiss on the forehead before she left the room.

 

 

The next morning came and Ava was nervous. Today was the big day, she would floo to Gringotts with Sirius and Narcissa. Sadly Severus had to brew a few potions, but she had taken so much of his time since he rescued her, that she could understand that he needed a bit of his time for himself.

So when Narcissa came to the bedroom to escort her back to the fireplace to floo through to Gringotts she was ready and ignored the tense feeling in her stomach.

"Are you ready?" the witch asked her after both were greeted by an excited Sirius.

She nodded and inhaled deeply. " I am nervous. What if the results are not what you are expecting? Will you send me back?" She asked and both adults saw fear shining in her eyes.

"No, you will never go back there again." Sirius assured her. "You are my heiress and everything else we discover today is just an added bonus." he squeezed her shoulder softly before he held out his arm for her to hold onto.

After the sensation of flooing, Sirius had to hold Ava upright. She was glad that they had decided not to have breakfast, in case the Goblins had to purge her. All the nice food would have ended on the floor.

She was fascinated by the huge building that was Gringotts. Sirius had an appointment with the Black vault-manager and therefore was able to floo directly into his office and if that room was anything to go by, the bank must be massive.

They all greeted each other with the classic sayings and soon after that they were staring at Avas tests.

Sirius was dumbfounded. He suspected that the light side wanted to hide something and therefore had dumped Ava with the muggles but he never suspected that.

He read the inheritance test again.

 

**Ava Lyra Potter-Black**

faher: Regulus Arcturus Black

blood adopted father: James Potter

                                  Sirius Black

grandfather: Orion Black

 

grandmother: Walburga Black

adopted grandparents: Fleamont Potter and Euphemia Potter

 

mother: Milena Black nèe Gaunt

blood adopted mother: Lily Potter nèe Burke adopted Evans

grandfather: Morfin Gaunt

 

grandmother: Josette Gaunt nèe Lestrange

adopted grandparents: Corvyn Burke and Eleonore Burke nèe Peverell

 

 **Titles** :

Black (heiress to Lord Sirius Black)

Potter disowned

Gaunt (Ladyship can be taken)

Lestrange (heiress)

Burke (Ladyship can be taken)

Peverell (Ladyship can be taken)

Slytherin (heiress to Tom Marvolo Riddle)

 

 **vaults and property** :

see attachment

 

Ava was the daughter of his own brother, a brother that went missing a long time ago.

He knew that he wanted to be engaged to a witch, but he never knew who she was or that he had married her. But what was an even bigger surprise was, the fact that Lily was a pure-blood witch and not a muggle-born. He knew that this was Dumbledores doing. Ava was not only a heiress to the Black family but also to several other sacred families. She was the last in line of some of them and he knew that Dumbledore knew too, that man was trying to gain control over all her seats and the vaults.

The even bigger question in all of this was, how did the Potters got hold of his brothers baby and what really has happened to Regulus and also to his wife. Sirius would get answers, sooner or later, but the most important thing at the moment was getting Ava her rightfully titles and ensure her safety even more. He would make sure that noone would ever harm his little cub again, he would give his life in the progess.

"So" he coughed "she can take all the titles?" he asked his account manager.

"Yes, that would be wise. We will get the rings ready, when they accept her she is Lady or heiress to the respective house. But I would keep that a secret, she will be powerful with all the seats she is holding. We don't want some people to get the wrong ideas."

"Yes, that would be the best."

"The purge room is ready, I will lead you there. When the purge is done, you will be lead back to my office, is that acceptable?" The Goblin asked Ava who only nodded after looking between Sirius and Narcissa.

Another Goblin took Avas hand and brought her to the purge room.

Meanwhile Sirius was still staring at the tests.

"Have you seen all those bindings? How could he do this to her?" Sirius asked a silent Narcissa, both were shocked.

 

 **Potions and bindings** :

binding on magical-core: 50% performed by Albus Dumbledore

binding on abilities performed by Albus Dumbledore:

Potions: 60%

Charms: 50%

Transfiguraion: 40%

DADA: 40%

History of magic: 30%

Herbology: 30%

Astornomy: 30%

Animagus: 100%

 

Potions:

Loyality potions towards Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Order of the Phoenix

Hate potion towards Slytherin, Malfoy family (void), Severus Snape (void)

submissive spell towards Dursley family

 

"There also is a marriage contract to Ronald Weasley, signed by James Potter, Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley, they wrote it after you blood-adopted her and made her your heiress, so this is invalid. As her head of the house, it is your duty to create a marriage contract and noone can take that duty away."

"Yes, I want that contract cancelled. She will marry out of love and not because it is her duty as heiress. I also want all her vaults closed and new keys made. Ava and I should be the only ones that have access to her vaults."

"We already closed her vaults and new keys will be made, I can give them to you before you leave."

"Will they know that Sirius cancelled the marriage contract?" Narcissa asked a bit worried.

"They will get an owl with a letter that will tell them that we had a vault and paper inspection and that we found a void contract. They won't know that Lord Black cancelled it."

"That should be ok, I hope they won't try something like that again." She sighed.

"She is my heiress and also my brothers daughter, noone but me and herself will ever decide about her future."


	14. Becoming a Lady

They talked a bit more about all the bindings and what they could do to avoid future incidens. The family rings would give her protection against kidnapping as they were also a port key and they would protect her against some spells like the imperio curse. Finally Ava came back from her purge. She was really tired and went over to Sirius, who pulled her onto his lap where she fell asleep immediately. He held her close and shot a smile to Narcissa who was smiling too. She was still way to light, but he knew that she already made a lot of progress. She wasn't as skinny as a skeleton anymore, her hair was shinier and her skin was looking healthier. But right now she only looked tired and he could understand. A purge was exhausting and after all the bindings and spells he read about, he was sure she would sleep till the evening. Severus would be angry, he told them that Ava needed to take her potions and that she should have three bigger and a lot of smaller meals each day. And now they had afternoon and her tummy was still emtpy. But the purge was necessary. He pulled her even closer before he looked back up at the Goblin in front of him.

"Can we put the rings on her while she is asleep? I don't want to wake her." Sirius asked the Goblin. 

"Sadly she has to put them on herself, I am afraid you have to wake her up Lord Black."

Sirius shooke her shoulder carefully and spoke to her just above a whisper. 

"Ava, cub, you have to wake up." 

But despite his efforts to wake her carefuly, she awoke with a gasp and flinched when she felt his hand on her shoulder. 

Ava opened her eyes and after she remembered where she was and who was with her, she relaxed against Sirius and hid a yawn behind her hand.

"Hmm" was her only response as she watched them all with her big green eyes.

Sirius snorted and helped her to sit up again, still on his lap, but now with her back against his chest and with her legs on each side of his own right leg. He suppressed the urge to bounce his leg like you would do with a younger child. She was way to small for her age and after today he would make sure that she would always get enough food and her potions. 

"You have to try on your family rings." He nodded his head to the managers desk. On it were a few wooden boxes lined with finest velvet, inside of each box was a beautiful ring. 

"They will merge together, so you only have to wear one ring all the time. Noone but you will be able to remove the ring from your finger." The Goblin told her.

"Okay, let's start." Sirius told him and She smiled shyly at him over her shoulder.

Soon all the rings had accepted her and she was wearing a merged single ring on her left hand. 

"Everything is done. You are now Lady Ava Lyra Black-Gaunt-Burke-Peverell and heir to the houses Black, Lestrange and Slytherin. As the Potters disowned you, you are not Lady Potter and therfore you no longer represent their family. As Lord Black wished, your official name is still Ava Lyra Potter-Black, so noone will know that you are holding the other families seats and to not make the Potters suspicious." The Goblin told her and with that they said goodbye. As her head of house Sirius would be her proxy, he would make sure to align all her seats to the dark fraction with Lucius as the representative like he had done with his own seats. It was his right as head of house but still he would ask her, if this would match with her own desires. She never had the chance or was allowed to voice her own opinion and he would make sure that he would always ask her about her sentiments. He would not treat her like a child or patronize her, she was way more mature than she should have been with soon to be eleven.

Ava was asleep as soon as they left the Goblins office via the floo. Sirius held her close the whole time and brought her to Severus room. They would wait for Ava to wake up again and then they would decorate her own room with her. But he still was thinking of her housing. At Malfoy Manor she would never be alone. Narcissa was always at home, when she wasn't shopping or drinking tea with some of the other witches from the Dark Lord ranks. Remus was away almost every day and would come back late in the evening. He tought about everything he had to work on and the times he was at home, that wouldn't be nearly enough to raise a child. And Ava needed more thoughtfulness than a normal child.  
He carried her over to the bed and tucked her in. With his right hand he cupped her face and caressed her cheek. He watched her for a few more minutes before he kissed her forehad and left the bedroom. He walked over to where Narcissa was leaning against the doorframe. 

"I will bring Remus with me later today. Let her sleep, the purge was exhausting." He looked back at her again and a small smile appeared on his face. He only knew her for a short time but he already loved the sweet child like she was his own daughter. He would raise her like she was his own flesh, not only his heiress and blood-adopted. 

Narcissa nodded and watched him thoughtfuly before she talked to him. "I know she is your heiress, but do you want her to live with you at Grimmauld place? I talked to Lucius and she could live with us and Draco. You are away far to often and so is Remus."

"I thought about that. You wouldn't mind if she would stay here? I know that I should provide her with a home as her head of house, but you are right about us beeing away." Again his eyes wandered back to the sleeping form in front of him. 

"No, it would be allright." She assured him. "I love her already like she is my own and I am sure Draco will love her like a sister." 

Sirius flashed her a blinding smile "Wonderful." He walked over and hugged Narcissa. "Let me know when she is awake again, we will talk to her about that when we have dinner." He would let her choose but he knew that she would like to stay here. This place was safe and Severus was living here on the weekends and the holidays. He knew that Ava trusted the stern professor the most. He would support her no matter what she would decide.


	15. Different reactions

Sirius flooed back to Grimmauld place and was greeted from an excited Remus. 

"Tell me everything Padfood" was all he said after embracing his lover and giving him a soft kiss on his lips. 

Sirius all but growled and Remus knew his loved one needed some tea to calm his nerves down. He already suspected that Sirius would find out some unsettling things so everything he would need for a nice hot tea was prepared already. He gently pushed Sirius down on one of the chairs in the dining room and waited patiently for his lover to begin.

"Oh Moony, you have no idea what they have done to my cub" He sighed and let his head fall into his hands, elbows resting on the old wooden table. 

Remus dragged his stool over, next to Sirius and began to let his hands run down his beloveds back. 

"The Goblins made an inheritance test." he mumbled into his hands before he began to rummage in his pockets with one of them. When his hand came out, he was holding the papers from the Goblins. "They are worse than we thought Moony, they are the worst." He held out the papers for Remus to take. 

Said man reached for them and took them out of Sirius hold. It took him only a few minutes to read all of the papers and when he was done, his forehead was in deep wrinkles.   
"How?" was all he was able to say. 

He knew that the light side wasn't as light as they wanted everyone to believe. He knew that some of his former best friends were pure evil. Who else would vote for their friend to be destroyed? He was once again glad that Sirius was such a good actor. He was the one that stood by his side, the one whose influence and titles rescued him and he was and always will be the one holding his heart. He never thought that the Potters would betray him like that. But he should have known, after everything they had done to Severus in his Hogwarts years. And he was a part of it. There was nothing in his life that he was regretting more. 

Sure Sirius talked to him about some of his plans but the extent of his plans was a mystery to him and everyone else. So he tormented Severus because he wanted to be part of James' little group, he tortured a poor soul for the acceptance in a group that would betray everyone for their own good. He counted himself lucky that Severus was such a good person. The black haired wizard held no grudge against him, they talked a lot after the sides were chosen and he was really understanding. But it took years till Severus felt comfortable around him and he was thankful that he finally trusted him. Severus was a better friend than the Potter ever could have been: Even when they were pretending to be his friends they weren't nearly as good as Severus was when he was still not fully trusting him. The powerful wizard was now his personal potions master,the one that took care of all the potions his wolf needed. Remus was grateful and he had promised to himself that he would do everything for a better wizarding world all those years ago. Finally, the chance to fulfill his promise was near. 

Remus closed his eyes, again the Potters were part of a scheme, a scheme to get control over the wizarding world in Britain. He held the proof of this in his hands. Ava was one of the most influental witches in Britain and maybe even in the whole world. The titles and seats she was holding were small in comparison to the amount of gold and riches in the vaults that were hers now. He knew that if Dumbledore would have been succesful, he and every other creature would be killed or thrown into a cell in Azkaban. Ava would be married to Ronald Weasley and she would live like a slave. The marriage contract would allow her husband to control everything, every part of her life and every cub they would have wouldn't be raised by her. Molly Weasley would be the one to raise the kids, while Ava had to live in the one room Ronald would have chosen for her, without a chance of human contact apart from the times her husband would take her to bed. She wasn't allowed to say no to him, the contract practically legalised rape. Whenever Ronald would feel the need, he was allowed to correct his wifes behavior, with words or with violence. 

A growled "They will get what they deserve" from his beloved Padfoot brought him out of his thoughts. 

"When will we start the ritual?"

"The potion will be finished soon, only a few more days and we can start our revenge on them." He looked at his Moony and a small smile graced his face.

"What will happen to Ava in September? Will you send her to Hogwarts?" Remus asked sternly. 

"What else should I do? Severus is there to watch over her and I am sure Draco will keep her safe. I am worried about Dumbledore and the Potters, but her rings will protect her. They won't be able to throw compulsion charms on her or poison her food. The ring is also a portkey that will bring her home immediately. There is so much more the rings can do."

"I think it is time to get some more followers into the school, that should be a priority in the next few months. I hope they won't try anything in her first year. But I can understand that you want her around Severus and I am sure that Draco and her will be friends in no time. I can't wait to meet her, love. Now let me take you to our room and let me show you how much I missed you today." He smiled at his lover before he reached for his hands and began to walk to their bedroom, a grinning Sirius was following him. 

__________________

In a different part of the country one of the owls from Gringotts was landing on the windowsill of Dumbledores office. She hooted and after the old wizard had opened the window and took the letter from her, she took off again to deliver the other two letters. 

After reading the letter, Dumbledore crumpled it up and let his magic destroy half of his office. Only a few minutes later his floo flared green and one concerned sounding James Potter asked for him. 

After the Potters and a short time later Molly Weasley came through the fireplace, they talked about the void marriage contract. They needed to gain control over Ava again. He had hidden the blasted child with the most vile muggles he could find. He knew that they would hurt her and train her to be the perfect submissive and docile wife for Ronald. Her will would be broken by the time she would come to Hogwarts and he was sure she would sacrifice herself to rescue the ones he paid with her money to be her friends. He needed her to get killed by Voldemort but he needed her married to Ronald even more. Ronald would inherit all her vaults after her dead. Oh he knew Ava was heiress to more than only the Black family, he made sure to steal a dark witchs baby. He wasn't sure who she was, but he knew that she was from a wealthy family from her clothes and her jewellery alone. He should have made sure which family that bitch was from before he killed her, but he would find out later. He would make sure Ava would stay obidient when she would start her Hogwarts years, even if he had to beat it into her himself.

After some a lot of discussions and fewer results they all left his office. It was now a few hours later and Dumbledore went to his seat and sat down behind his desk to think a little bit more. He would need to make sure that the wizarding world still fears Voldemort. He made some plans how to bring terror back and how to move himself into the spotlight as the hero in the end. He was thinking of a way to get Ava killed, he would make sure that the whole wizarding world would think that she was killed by some dark wizards. And the girl would think she would fight a dark Lord. 

He thought of ways to gain control over the seats Ava was holding, he would need to kill Sirius so she would hold all of his seats. But the damned Black kept his distance to all of his former friends. He knew that Avas disappearance was the biggest reason for him to part with his friends. That and the plan to destroy Remus, well that really was a bad idea. He should have known that the wolf was Sirius' lover. He was sure that Sirius wasn't loyal to him but maybe he could be again. Some compulsions here and there and the issue should be resolved. Yes that would be the best. He would bring Black back to their side and with him back, he would always have control over Ava. 

He rubbed his hands together and his face contorted into an ugly smile, his eyes were twinkling. Ah meddling was his favorite hobby.


	16. The rest of the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I wrote the part where Ava meets Draco and I think it is pretty cute and because I want to post that part as soon as possible, here is the next chapter.  
> This one is a bit shorter but I promise the next one with Draco is a longer one again.

Meanwhile at Malfoy Manor, Severus was fuming. Lucius was still at the Ministry and Narcissa was in her study, so he was all alone with the results from Gringotts in his hands. Ava was powerful, far more than any other witch or wizard he knew. He knew why Dumbledore had chosen her for his plans. He would gain control over the whole wizarding world in Britain with all her seats and the money she had in her vaults. But what was even more reprehensible was the marriage contract. How could someone write up a contract like this? This would make Ava a slave for Ronald Weasley. He could abuse her, he was allowed to punish her and he was allowed to rape her. She had no rights, not even the right to say no to him. She would have to live with a husband that would resemble Vernon Dursley. 

A bloodcurdling scream pulled him out of his thoughts and he was out of the chair he was sitting in in only a split second. He ran to his own bedroom and over to the bed where a panting and sobbing Ava was sitting. Her head was in her hands and her whole body was shaking. 

He kneeled besides the bed and whispered soothing words, before he slowly touched Avas shoulder. The girl was startled by the touch but as soon as she saw Severus next to her, her arms flew around his neck and she slid down the bed and onto his lap where she sobbed into his soulder. He huged her and held her close to his own body. 

"Hey sweetheart, it's alright, I've got you. It was only a dream." he rocked their bodys slowly and one of his hands was running up and down her back. 

"It was him." she hiccuped "he held me down Severus." again she hiccuped. 

"You are safe Ava, I will protect you. He won't come near you ever again. I promise Ava, sweet girl, do you hear me?"

He felt Ava nodding against his shoulder.

"Good." He held her for a few some time and when the shaking of her body stopped, he talked to her again. 

"You need to got back to bed, you are still recovering. We will have dinner together in a few hours." 

"Will.. will you stay till I am asleep? Please?" she asked him and looked at him with her green eyes full of tears.

Severus looked at the girl and simply nodded. After that he helped her up and into bed again. He pulled the cover over her body and sat down next to her. He took the book from the bedside table and began to read one of the stories to her. Soon her eyes closed and her breath evened out. He read a bit more to her, till he was sure she was in a deep sleep, then he stood up and left the room and walked over to the room he was sleeping in at the moment. He sat down and once again thought about everything that happened today.

 

Later that day Sirius came back to Malfoy Manor and as he had told Narcissa, Remus was with him. Ava and Severus were in the dining room. Narcissa has left to Diagon Alley a few hours ago to buy Ava some new clothes and Lucius was still at the Ministry.

Both men sat down at the large wooden table. Ava was watching them, but especially Remus. She knew that Remus was Sirius' partner and she knew that he trusted him with his life, but he was an adult and he was male. But his warmly smile and the trust Sirius had in the man soothed her troubled mind. She trusted Severus and she trusted Sirius and both of them trusted Remus so she would try to trust him also. 

Sirius smiled at her and got a small smile in return. That made him smile even wider. 

Severus was telling Ava about potions and the girl was very interested in that topic. The other two men waited patiently till Severus was done and then participated in a discussion about dark and light magic. Ava didn't say too much, but she asked some questions now and then and even gave her own opinion once or twice. All men were proud how she has developed in the small time that she was with them and her questions and replies showed them that she was quite intelligent. She had an extraordinary understanding of magic for a child that never knew about it until a short time ago. They all were sure that she would be a remarkable student.

They talked the whole evening and Ava was enjoying herself. She felt safe for the first time in her life. She really, really liked Sirius and Remus was very nice to her. For the first time she thought that she finally had a place to call home and she ignored the small voice in her head that was telling her that this could be over sooner or later. All the other adults that she had met in her short life, hated her for one reason or another. Well, all adults besides the magical ones. The hope she was feeling at the moment gave her a warm feeling and she decided there and then, that she would enjoy is as long as possible.

Narcissa came back while they were eating dinner, she gave the clothes to one of the elves to put away in Avas new room. The transformation of her new room would have to wait till tomorrow. Narcissa smiled at the three men and the small girl and gave Ava a kiss on her hair before she sat down next to her. 

The rest of the evening was full of stories and laughter of the adults and shy smiles from Ava. Lucius joint them after he was finally done at the Ministry and it was fairly late when they all went to bed and Sirius and Remus left.


	17. A present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter so much. <3  
> I hope you like it also. Please leave some comments or kudos.

When Ava woke up the next morning, she went to the bathroom , brushed her teeth and went back to the bedroom. There she sat back down on the bed and stared hat her left hand and the ring that was on her ringfinger. It was a filigree silver band that had a lot of small stones woven into it. Each stone was for one of the houses she was heiress to or had the Ladyship of. The Goblins had told Sirius and Narcissa everything and both had told her all about it the previous evening. She knew that this ring was a portkey, if someone would try to kidnap her, she only had to think of her home and immediately the ring would bring her there. She also had protection against some spells and compulsion charms. She carefully touched the ring with her right hand traced the pattern of the band with her fingers. A smile was on her face and again she felt the warm feeling inside of her body. Everything would be good, she knew it would be, but she still had to lern how to ignore that voice that made her sceptical. After all those years where it was ingrained into her mind that she was a freak, it was hard to accept the fact that there could be people that would like her or care for her. But Severus and Narcissa showed her every day how much they liked her. Sirius and Lucius came shortly after them, but both weren't there as much as the former two were. With one last glance at the ring she stood up and after she changed out of her sleeping shirt and pants into black jeans and a dark green sweater, she made her way to the family dining room. 

It was still amazing how big the Manor was. She had barely seen all of it, in the time she was there. But she was glad that the family had a private area besides the big and ostentatious rooms for the visitors. She was still uncomfortable in the bigger rooms of the Manor. 

When she walked through the door of the dining room and her eyes fell on the table, she stopped immediately and her whole body froze and her hands started to tremble. There, sitting at the table, was a younger version of Lucius Malfoy only with shorter blond hair. The fork the boy was holding stopped midair and he watched her with slightly wider eyes before he slowly laid the fork back down on his plate. Then he took a napkin and wiped his lips with it. He was still watching her and after he laid the napkin pack down, he began to smile. 

"You must be Ava." it was not a question, but still Ava nodded barely visible but the boy saw it though. "I am Draco, Draco Malfoy" now he was smiling brightly at her, ignoring the way her body was still tense. 

"I am sure you are hungry, would you like some pancakes with fruits?" he asked after some minutes. She was still standing by the door. "Come in and join me, I would like to get to know you better." he gestured towards the chair across from himself with his hands. 

Ava flinched slightly when the boy called Draco gestured with his hand but despite the fear that was running through her veins, she stepped closer and whispered a "yes" at the question he had asked her. 

Draco smiled reassuring at the frightened girl and was happy when she slowly and carefully sat down on the chair. She jumped a bit on her chair when the houseelf appeared next to her with a plate in his hands. The elves knew that she was scared easily and Lucius ordered them to not punish themselfs if they scared her unintentionally, but he also ordered them to look out for her and to call him or Narcissa if they felt the adults should take a look at her. The small elf placed the plate in front of her and when she saw that the young master was present, she disappeared after a small nod from him. 

Ava looked at her plate, sure she was hungry, but she wasn't sure how to handle the current situation. She knew that noone would hurt her in this Manor, but beeing confronted with someone new, she was unsure what she should do and what was expeted of her. 

"I won't harm you Ava. I want you to know, that I am glad that you are living here now. Sometimes it is hard to be a child, when you are surrounded by adults." he laughed after that and took his fork with his right hand again. "You should eat, the pancakes are fantastic"

Still looking at her plate she nodded and slowly took her own fork into her hand. After half of the pancakes and all of the fruits she finally looked up and looked into the still smiling face of Draco. 

"You were right" she breathed and a small smile appeared on her face. 

"Hmm?" was the elegant response from the boy.

"The pancakes.. they are fantastic." 

"Oh, yes. Yes they are. They are my favourite breakfast." 

Ava looked back at her plate and slowly ate the rest of her breakfast. 

"So Ava, have my parents told you about our horses?"

Her eyes shot up and she watched him with big eyes before she asked him excitedly "You have horses?"

He nodded "Mhhmmm, we have quite a few. Do you want to see them?" he asked and smiled at the girl who was nodding elated. He only thought how adorable she was and he hoped that she would like him and would want to bis his friend. He may be from a noble family but he was still only a teenager. And he wanted nothing more than to be her friend at the moment.   
_____________

It was a sunny day, the sun was shining bright, but Avas smile was even brighter when she saw all of the Malfoys horses. She was drawn to one of the smaller ponies in the stable. The pony was a chestnut Shetland pony with a lighter fluffy mane and tail. It had a wide blaze and a lot of smaller chestnut spots in it. With wide eyes she looked at the pony and then at Draco. After a small nod from the boy she held out her hand and the pony snuffeld at it before it carfully nipped her fingers. The giggling coming from the girl made him smile. It was a beautiful sound and the smile on her face suited her.

"Her name is Buttons and she is expecting a foal, if we are lucky it is born before we have to go to Hogwarts." He smiled at her astonished face.  
She stroked the ponys face and looked at her lovingly.

"Do you think they would want me at Hogwarts?" She asked him a bit unsure. 

"Sure. Ava, you are a very powerful witch. Not only because of your titles, but because of you magical core. According to Sev you will be an extraordinary witch when you have your magical education."

She nodded and turned back to Buttons, still petting the ponys head. 

"She is beautiful."

"Yes, she is. She was my first pony. My parents bought her when I was three and she was just a little weanling at that time."

"They bought you a pony?" she asked him amazed.

He nodded "Yes, they wanted me to learn to be responsible."

"I can imagine that this works." She smiled at him and then looked back at the pony. "You are such a beautiful pony, you know that?" The pony pushed his head into her hand and Ava laughed. "Oh yes, sure you know that." 

Draco was smiling, showing her the horses was a good idea and an even better one came to his mind.

"You can have her." Her hand froze and the smile was leaving her face. Her eyes went wide again and she focused back on him.

"Why would you give such a beautiful pony to someone like me?" She asked him, worry evident in her voice. 

"What do you mean? Someone like you?" He asked her, equally worried.

"I-I am a freak, I don't deserve something as lovely as her." Her gaze fell to the ground and suddenly she looked extremely sad. 

Draco stepped closer to her and with a calmy voice told her "Ava, you are not a freak, you are a beautiful little witch and you deserve everything and so much more. And I want you to have her, because I know you would love her and value her." He was now standig right beside her and he carefully and very slowly lifted his right hand. Ava closed her eyes but didn't flinch and so he cupped her cheek and lifted her chin. "Look at me Ava." He whispered, he didn't want to ruin the calm atmosphere. 

She looked up at him with watery eyes. 

"You are lovely little Ava and I want to gift my Buttons to you, will you accept her?"

She nodded and some of the tears finally fell over her lashes, a small smile appeared on her face. She lifted her left hand and put it over Dracos.

"Thank you so much." She whispered and to both of their astonishment she hugged him. Not expecting her to hug him, it took Draco some seconds before his own arms came around the girls small body and he held her as she cried even more, but this time it were tears of joy. 

After that, the two of them spent the rest of the morning in the stables and in the garden. Draco showed her how to take care of Buttons and how to clean her stable. Also Draco made sure that Ava ate an apple and a small bowl of yoghurt while they were outside. When lunchtime came, they both went inside and Ava was still smiling. 

Ava was asking him a few more questions as they made their way to the dining room and only stopped for a few seconds as she saw all of the adults already in the room. She smiled at them and sat down next to Severus. Draco walked over to his parents and gave his mother a kiss on her cheek before he sat down between them. 

"Am I guessing right, that you two were in the stables the last few hours?" Narcissa asked her son and then looked over to Ava. The girl was smiling while she nodded excitedly.

"Yes, mum you are right" Draco told her, while he was also looking at the delighted girl across from him.

"Severus?" the girl asked the older man while tugging at his robes. It was clear to everyone in the room that she was delighted. 

"Yes sweetheart?" The older man asked her and looked over to the jittery girl besides him, one of the rare smiles on his face. 

"I was given a pony as a present." She smiled brightly at him before a small giggle escaped her lips. Instantly all of the adults melted around her. "Can I show her to you when we have finished lunch?"

"May I show her is the right question, but yes, you may." His own smile was brighter now.

She nodded and shot him one last smile before she started on her meal in front of him. 

The adult Malfoys were gobsmacked, both of them knew that Draco would have a good influence on the girl but right now she was behaving like a totally different person. Gone was he shy and frightened girl. Lucius smirked before he too began to eat. 

Narcissa leaned over to her son and hugged him with her left arm before she whispered into his ear "I am so proud of you Dragon." She then kissed him on the head and began to eat also. Said boy smiled at her but said nothing. 

After lunch, Ava dragged Severus to the stables and showed him her new pony.


	18. Just the kids

The next few days again flew by and soon it was time to do the ritual to bring the Dark Lord back. 

All the adults left that evening to floo to Slytherin Castle. Ava and Draco were left at home and the house-elves had the order to look after them.

Draco was teaching Ava a bit about Hogwarts and he gave her his old books from his first two years. She was very interested into learning more and beeing better prepared for her first year at Hogwarts. She knew that she would get a letter on her eleventh birthday and as this was only a few days away, she was already pretty excited. She knew that Naricissa and Lucius would buy her school supplies at Diagon Alley because all the adults had decided that it wasn't save for Ava to make the trip while the dark side wasn't back at his full strength.

Draco promissed her, that he would protect her, even is she wouldn't be sorted into Slytherin. He promised her that he would always protect her and that no house-rivalries would stop him. But Ava allready knew that she wanted to be in Slytherin. She knew that Severus was the head of Slytherin and as he was the person she trusted the most, she wanted to have him near her. 

Both were sitting in the library, Draco was reading one of Severus' potions magazins, while Ava read a book about transfiguration. They read for hours and soon it was after midnight. Dobby plopped into the room and looked at the kids before he told Ava "Little miss should go to bed. Master Severus told Dobby to look after her." The elf was bouncing on his feet as he watched the small girl stifle a yawn. She nodded at the elf and said goodnight to Draco before she walked to her own room. 

Narcissa had decorated the room just like Ava wanted it. Sirius had told her about the arrangements the Malfoys and he had talked about in the last days and she was happy when had they told her that she would live with Severus at Malfoy Manor. Sure she was a bit sad that Sirius wasn't able to keep her, but she knew that he would visit her as often as possible and so she had told the adults that she would love to live with them. 

The walls of her room were painted in a light beige color and on the dark wooden floor were several pastel green rugs. The big windows were framed with darker green curtains. She could see her ponys pasture from her room and she could watch her, when she was sitting at the desk made of mahagony. Besides the desk were two big bookcases, one was already filled with all the school books from Draco and books that Severus had given to her. One shelf was filled with books from Lucius, about laws and pureblood traditions. She learned a lot about the wizarding festivities.

All in all she loved her room and she even more loved her big four poster bed. She even had her own bathroom, just like she had when she was occupying Severus' room.   
She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and to take a fast shower. After that she went to bed and slept till dawn. 

The day went by like the previous one, both kids read some books and Draco helped Ava to understand how some of the first year spells work. She would be able to practice them when the adults are back. Ava knew they were doing the ritual to bring back the dark Lord and she still was afraid how he would react towards her. 

As the day was sunny, she decided she would spend the afternoon with her pony. She sat down in the pasture with some parchment and some coal pens and began to draw a portrait of Buttons. Draco was watching her from inside and he was smiling the whole time. His plan worked perfectly. Taking responsibility for an animal, and a cute one like Buttons, was definitely something Ava needed. It gave her mind something to work and the stable was a place for her to retreat if she needed one. 

Outside Ava was nearly done with the portrait. Only a little bit more work on the mane and soon her first painting in a long time was done. She had always been good in her art class, but most of her paintings were destroyed by Vernon when she brought them home. So most times she gave her work away after she got her grades.

After finishing the portrait she laid the parchement down besides her and began to cut one of the apples she brought with her into smaller chunks. Buttons came over to her after hearing the knife cut into the apple. She gave Buttons a piece of her apple and ate another one herself. She shared the whole apple with Buttons and after the pony was done, it nudged Avas face and carefuly breathed in the scent of her hair. It snorted and with a laugh Ava began to stroke the ponys soft nose. 

"You are such a good pony." her right hand stroked the fur on Buttons chin and she gave the pony a kiss on her nose. 

After a few more minutes with her pony, she got up to her feet, hugged her pony and went to one of the nearby flowerbeds just outside of the pasture. She plucked some of the flowers and braided them into a flower crown, which she laid on top of her head before she looked one last time at her pony and went inside.

She went to the library, where she thought she might find Draco. The boy was sitting in one of the large leather chairs under the windows. 

"What were you drawing outside?" The boy asked her after she sat down on the other leather chair, the parchment now laying on the small wooden table besides her. 

"Buttons" She smiled at him and took one of the potions books from the table that was between both leather chairs.

"Can I see it?" 

She looked at him with wide eyes. "You really want to see it?"

The boy nodded and slowly Ava took the portrait and held it close to her chest before she looked at Draco again. "Please.." she inhaled before she spoke again "please don't destroy it." She held the parchment out for Draco to take.

He carefuly took it out of Avas hand and asked her with a bewildered look on his face "why should I do that?"

"Uncle Vernon always did it." She told him with a saddened voice. 

"I would never do something like that Ava. Your uncle is a vile man and he will get what he deserves. I promise you that." He took Avas hand in his own and squeezed it encouraging.

She smiled at him and whispered a small "Okay."

Draco looked at the parchment and his eyes widened, in his hands was a perfect portrait of the fluffy little mare. Ava perfectly captured Buttons look and it was amazing how three-dimensionally the portrait was. 

"Ava, this is awesome." Draco gaped at the portrait and then at Ava. 

The girl looked up at him and a shy smile appeared on her face.

"Do you really think it is?" She asked him doubting.

"Oh yes. This is wonderful, you should definetaly draw more. You are truly gifted." 

"Thank you Draco." She now had a big smile on her face and her eyes shone with pride. 

"No need to thank me, I was just telling the truth. You should show it to mother when she returns." He gave it back to Ava who took it while nodding. She put it pack on the table and soon both were reading again. When dinnertime came, Dobby took them both to the dining room before two plates were placed in front of them. 

After dinner they played some rounds of chess, with a non magic chessboard. Draco feared that a macical one would scare Ava. He explained all the rules of chess to her and soon she won her first round. They really had fun but after a few rounds Ava was pretty exhausted and both decided they would go to bed earlier today. The adults should come back tomorrow and both children wanted to be up by the time they would return.


	19. Getting Ready

Ava thought about the dark Lord. Both children were currently having breakfast and Ava wanted to ask Draco some more questions about dark magic. She knew a lot about it already because of Severus, but she wanted to hear it from another person around her age. Her current thoughts were interupted, when the floo chimed and soon after that Narcissa came through, looking tired but happy at the same time. 

Ava ran over to her and after the older witch had opened her arms, Ava stepped forward and hugged her waist. Narcissa put her arms around the younger witchs shoulders and hugged her tightly. 

"We were successful." She smiled, oh yes, they were successful. Not only was the dark Lord back, he was also sane again. The ritual they had chosen was the right one to merge his pained soul. 

Ava looked up and Narcissa saw the worry in her eyes. 

"Don't worry my dear, Lucius and Severus are with him and before I bring you to him, he will know everything." She hugged her thighter before she walked with Ava back to the dining room where Draco was still eating. He looked over to his mother and smiled. 

While they were eating, Narcissa told both about the ritual and about the future plans. The dark side would go against Dumbledore in the Wizengamot, they now had enough seats to outvote the light side. 

After a long talk with Sirius, Ava had agreed with his plans for her seats and they knew that Dumbledore would never expect the dark side to gather more seats than the light side. After bringing the death eaters back together, they would look into older votings and with a bit luck they could revoke some laws and decisions.

Narcissa told the kids that they would floo to Slytherin Castle the day before Avas birthday, so the dark Lord would have some days to recover. Ava nodded after hearing that and soon she was sitting with Narcissa in Lucius' study to talk a bit more about the plans for the dark side and about the plans for Avas own future. 

They would celebrate Avas birthday with some friends of Draco and some more members of the dark side. She told Ava about the Zabini heir that would come to her party and the Greengrass girls. The younger one would start Hogwarts together with Ava. Ava smiled at that, it would be good to know some more Hogwarts students before the terms would start. 

 

Finally the day before Avas birthday arrived and she was nervous. Her stomach was aching since she woke up and her hands started to tremble when she left her room. Today she would meet the man that was responsible for a lot of her pain and miserable years. The adults had told her that he had no choice, that he was under some compulsions and that his insanity was doing its own part. She also knew that Dumbledore most likely would have found another way to let her be treat like that. They still had no idea why the old fool had stolen the child, sure it was for power, but if he had known how much seats Ava was holding, he would have handled the whole situation differently. They were sure that he would have kept her for himself, to keep the seats glued to his own person. The only other explanation they had, was more likely to be true. He needed someone to sacrifice, someone whose death would give him a reason to go against the dark side and kill the dark Lord. He wouldn't kill a light child, so he had to find a dark one. Maybe he thought that the dark Lord would be weaker when he would split his soul again and so Dumbledore would have an easier fight. They would most likely never knew what exactly happened on the Halloween night all those years ago. The dark Lord had no memories after the moment he walked into the Potters home till the moment his wrath form was fleeing.

Ava went to the dining room, but she couldn't make herself eat. She looked over to Severus who smiled confidently but she couldn't smile back. Narcissa came over to her and gave her a soft kiss on her head before she hugged her and told her once again that everything would be alright and that they would all come with her. There was nothing to worry about. But still she was worried. What if he would hate her? Or would try to kill her again? The killing course was so fast, noone would be able to save her and with that her stomach finally decided that enough is enough. She barely made it into the next bathroom before she had to vomit. Her throat was burning and a small sob escaped her lips, before she sank on her knees and held one of her hands in front of her mouth to keep more sounds from getting out. She jumped a little when she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her thin waist and she was pulled into the strong chest of Severus, who was mumbling sweet words into her ear. 

Severus brought her over to the sink and after that he accioed her toothbrush and held it out for her. She brushed her teeth and was glad to get rid of the taste in her mouth. 

When she was done, she turned to Severus and hugged him to tightly, he thought that she might break her own arms. With her face pushed into his robes, she whispered a "Thank you".

"Always Ava, always." He told her before he patted her hair.

She looked up and smiled at him. 

"I don't think I will ever be ready, but maybe it is time to go now, before my stomach can change its mind again." And there it was again, the sweet sound she made when she was giggling. Severus smiled again before he took Avas hand and brought her back to the dining room. 

The adult Malfoys were already waiting for them to return. Draco would stay at home and would help the house-elves with preparing the food and the presents for Avas birthday. They wanted to make sure Ava would never forget her very first birthday party. All of them had bought her beautiful gifts, that they were sure she would enjoy. And maybe Buttons would give her the biggest gift. The small mare was due to the end of July and till now, she was holding out. 

But before they all could enjoy the birthday, they had to visit the dark Lord and introduce Ava to another member of her family. They all were aware of Avas fears and they all would make sure she was safe the whole time. The dark Lord was sane again, but he was never one to like children and he could scare even adults easily. He was aware that Ava was abused by her so called family and that she most likely would have another break down before it would get better. But they needed to talk and the sooner, the better.   
All four of them stepped into the floo and before Ava could change her mind, they were at Slytherin Castle.


	20. The dark Lord

They came out of the floo, Severus holding Ava by her shoulder, keeping her straight. 

One of the Slytherin house-elves was already waiting for them. She was wearing a dark green dress with the Slytherin crest on the front of it. 

"Lords and Ladies, Lord Slytherin is waiting and Nibby will brings you to him." She bowed before she turned around, waiting for the others to follow her. 

The elf brought them to one of the smaller family sitting rooms. There were three large settees around a big wooden table. The room was bright with it's big fenster front and the light grey coloured rug on the dark wooden floor. The settees were dark green with lighter green and grey pillows in top of them. On the dark wooden table was a tea set on a tray, ready to be used. 

When the group entered the room, the elf talked again.

"Master Slytherin, yours guests are here." and with that she plopped out of the room.

Ava was standing between Narcissa and Severus and she was in awe, what she had seen from the Castle was even bigger than Malfoy Manor. Then her eyes fell on the dark clothed person sitting in one of the armchairs under the window. He stood up and came over to where they were standing. All the adults bowed with a "my Lord" and waited for the other man to answer. Ava took a step back and one of her now trembling hands took hold of Severus hand. The older man gave the small hand an encouraging squeeze but kept his gaze on the other wizard. 

~You must be Ava, I am pleased to see you. I am Lord Marvolo Slytherin.~ He bowed slightly and a small smile graced his face.

Avas eyes widened at the direct adress of the older wizard. But she nodded and a very soft ~nice to meet you too.~ left her mouth before she bowed like Severus had told her to do and then she looked down on the floor, her lower lips between her teeth. 

Marvolo smiled widely, things would get even better now. 

The adults around her watched her with wide eyes and Narcissa opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, not knowing how what to say at that display of parseltongue.   
After a few more seconds of silence Severus finally was able to form words and asked "Ava, do you know what you just did?" 

The small girl looked at him and shoke her head no before her eyes went wide again and her breathing became frantic. Her hand that was not holding Severus' came up to her mouth and her trembling increased. She started to whisper "I am sorry" over and over again. Her mind was trapped in a memory of Vernon whipping her after he had found her in the garden, talking to a small snake. He had killed the small animal and had dragged his small niece into the house with one of his meaty fists wrapped around her hair. He ignored her begging and pleading and whipped her till her back was a bloody mess. He screamed at her the whole time telling her what a freak and how useless she was and that noone would miss her if he would kill her accidentally. 

Severus knew she was having a panic attack and immediately crouched down besides her and grabbed one of the calming draughts out of his robes. He held it in front of Ava, to show her what he would give her, before he held the vial at her mouth. She closed her eyes and drank the potion. Soon her breathing became more even, but was still way too fast. Her hands were still trembling but her whispering had stopped. Her free hand came up to Severus robe and pushed her face into his chest and began to silently sob. Severus held her close to himself and like always began to tell her soothing words. 

Some time later her breathing became normal and she was leaning into Severus, before said man began to stand up. He took her light body with him and his arms came up under her legs, he was holding her close to his body, her own hands still clutched into his robes with an ironlike grip. 

"My Lord, I think we should sit down and explain everything to her." Lucius told the dark Lord, who only nodded and indicated for them to sit down. 

Severus sat down, Ava was sitting across his lap,both of his arms were now around her waist, holding her close.

After that, they talked. They talked till it was way after midnight. They all believed that the dark Lords new suspicions about Dumbledores plans were right. The Potters knew that Ava was a parselmouth and therefore planned a fake prophecy to be overheard. The only parselmouths known were the descendants of Salazar Slytherin and no parselmouth was able to kill another one. If one would try, Lady magic would punish them, death would come and take immediately. If one tried to kill another one without knowing the other was a parselmouth, the punishment wouldn't be as severe, but only a few would be able to recover from it. The dark Lord was lucky, he had the best potions master, the best healer and one of the best wizards in runes amongst his death eaters. And now he had one of Salazars descendants with him. The girl in Severus' arms was from his own family, her father was one of his most faithful followers who sadly went missing and his own niece. Another witch lost to the schemes of the old fool. The girl was powerful, he could feel it. And she wasn't even aware of it. He would need to teach her, but first he would need to get to know her. He needed her to trust him, and he knew it would be a long way. But he also knew, that the two adult wizards and the witch would help him. They were his inner circle, the elite death eaters. The ones he trusted the most. Severus would be the one who would watch and protect Ava in Hogwarts. He saw the trust between them and he knew that this was the right way. 

They planed their next steps, Lucius had shown him a list of laws that needed to be revoked and they were sure that they could make it. With all the seats they were holding, it would be easy. And once the new laws became applicable, Dumbledores plans would be destroyed. Dumbledore hated everything besides his beloved muggle-borns. But the dark Lord still wanted the creatures to be part of the wizarding society, he wanted to make sure that the muggles weren't aware of the wizarding world. He wanted to keep the wizarding world hidden, wanted to celebrate the wizarding traditions and culture and not the muggle ones. That were the original plans of the dark side, making magic strong again, without blood shed. But then Dumbledore became aware of the plans and worked against them. He would need to find the rat, Peter Pettigrew and show him what happens to traitors.


	21. Birthday party

Severus carried a sleeping Ava back through the floo and into her bedroom. Narcissa changed her clothes and tugged her in.

After that the adults met in Lucius study to talk about the evening and the plans for the rest of the day as it was Avas birthday now.

"We should talk to Ava about the other wizarding schools, I don't think Hogwarts is the right place for her. She will have more panic attacks and the Potters will probably trigger even more." Severus said after a while.

Narcissa looked at him and nodded with a sigh."I believe you are right Severus. She won't be safe there. Even if the hat will sort her into Slytherin and with you around, they will find ways to get to her." The witch was still shocked that little Ava was a parselmouth and that she was therefore even more protected by the dark Lord and all his followers. But all the protection of the dark side wasn't enough for the time she would stay at Hogwarts. 

"We should wait and see which letter she will get today. Maybe it is time to let Dumbledore and his followers know that Ava is with her magical guardian." Lucius was still thinking about what they had learned today. Ava was vulnerable and even the smallest gestures or words could trigger some painful memories. They should talk with her about what has happened at the Dursleys. This was the only way she could get over it, someday. 

They talked a bit more but soon went to bed. They wanted to rise early to start with Avas birthday party.

 

When the sun started to rise, Ava opened her eyes. This was the first night without any nightmares and she felt well recovered. She could sleep well when she was allowed to take the dreamless sleep potion, but on the nights without it she normally had one nightmare or more. She knew it had something to do with the dark Lord. She was so worried the last few days and it affected her sleep negatively. But he was so different than the man she had created in her mind. He was gentle and showed concern. He smiled at her and talked with her about their family and her place in the wizarding world. Together with Severus he had helped her through a second panic attack. When they had tea, her hands were still trembling and she lost her grip on the saucer from her cup. The saucer fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. She knew what Vernon did to her when she broke something unintentionally. So she fell to her knees next to the broken pieces and started to gather them in her left hand. The adults were staring at her in shock, while she was babbling how sorry she was. Her right hand was bleeding when the adults finally came out of their shocked states and when she started to plead with them not to whip or beat her, the dark Lord sat down next to Ava on the floor, leaving the other adults in another shocked state. He carefully took Avas right hand in his own bigger one and began to cast a voiceless healing spell and banished the broken peaces with another voiceless spell. Then he pulled Ava into his lap and made her look at Severus who was now sitting on the floor too, opposite of the dark Lord. Together they brought her out of her panic attack. They had some lighter conversations after that and soon Ava fell asleep on the dark Lords lap. She never saw the smile on the older mans face. 

She made her way to her bathroom and took a quick shower before she brushed her teeth and walked over to her closet to chose the outfit for the day. She never had a birthday party. But Draco promised her a party with friends and even presents. Another thing she never had, the Dursleys never gave her presents for her birthday or any other day for that matter. They only gave her chores and punishments. She shoke her head and banished those negative thoughts. 

When she arrived in the dining room, her whole family was waiting for her. She smiled at that thought, yes, this was her family. Sirius was there with Remus, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco, the dark Lord and last but not least, Severus. She smiled at them all and one ofter the other came over to her to hug her and wish her all the best for her new year. They told her that they would have breakfast and then would show her her presents. Ava was excited and felt pure joy while she was eating her breakfast. She no longer needed the nutriant potions and her plate was filled with pancakes and fruites.

After the breakfast Draco came over to her and whispered into her ear that she should close her eyes and let them closed till he would tell her to open them.   
Severus carried Ava down the stairs and to her first present. After a few minutes he put her down and turned her around so she faced her presents.

"Ava, you can open your eyes now." Draco told her with joy in his voice. They all were nervous and excited. They all had bought her presents but the best present was laying in the straw before them. 

Ava opened her eyes and wasn't able to move for a few seconds before she walked to Buttons stall with wide eyes. She slowly opened the door and walked carefully into the stall. Buttons neighed when she saw Ava and came over to her to push her soft nose into Avas hands. Ava stroke her neck and sank to her knees. 

Before her in the straw was a beautiful small foal. She took her time, while everybody was watching her. In the end Buttons allowed her to sit near her foal and she was able to pet it. 

"You are so fluffy." She said in awe, the adults were laughing. Ava looked at them and back to her foal. "What is the name of her coat color?" She asked Draco.

"Your little filly is a palomino, Ava. She is beautiful, you need to give her a name." 

Ava thought for a few minutes before she made her decision. "Cassiopeia, because her blaze looks like it." She told the adults.

"It is a beautiful and thoughful name, Sweetheart." Narcissa told her and and the others agreed.

After a while they left the stables and Ava got all her other presents, before it was time for lunch. 

Draco bought her a foal starter kid, with a little halter and a lot of books about foals and working with young horses. Narcissa and Lucius bought her a new quill set with a beautiful inkpot, it had her name on it and a small silver feather pendant was wrapped around the bottles neck. Sirius and Remus bought her a beautiful dark blue dress and in another box was a silver necklace with a smaller version of a werewolf claw and a small silver ring. 

"This is a ring all young Black witches wear, I had it stored in the Black family vault for you." It was a beautiful work, it looked like a small raven and its wings were spread and would go around the finger.

The dark Lord gave her some books about Parselmagic and he promised her one of Naginis babies, as soons as they were hatched. 

The last present was from Severus. He gave her a small box with smaller holes in it. 

"Be carefull with the box, there is something fragile in it." he smiled at her. 

She nodded and carefully took the box out of Severus hands. 

She opened it and when she opened it her eyes went wide before she made a high pitched sound and grabbed the gift from the box. She pulled it to her chest and began to tell Severus what a wonderful gift it was. She hugged him with one arm, the other still clutching the gift. She had tears running down her face now and when she looked at all the other adults and Draco around her, she told them "thank you all so much, you have no idea what this means to me." One of her hands wiped away the tears and she smiled widely.

"Ava, the kittens name is Smokey, he is a magical cat, a Kneazle. He will help you around new people, they can feel if a person wants to harm you and they always find their way home. But the main reason I gave him to you is that I want you to talk to him. Tell him all about your fears and your nightmares, use him as a help to heal your mind. On his collar is a small button, when you want us to know what you tell him, just push it while you are talking. It is connected with one of my notebooks and it has a special spell on it, it will write all of your words down. Can you do that for me Ava?" 

She looked at the cat and back at Severus before she slowly nodded.

"I will try."

"That is all I am asking for." 

He got another hug and after that they went to eat lunch. 

In the evening all of Dracos friends came over and a girl named Luna Lovegood. Ava immediately liked the strange girl. She was so different than Ava herself, Luna had a dreamy personality and Ava was drawn to her positive aura.

She got many books from the other kids and Luna gave her a bracelet.

"I made it myself, it's made of unicorn hair with some runes woven into it to keep you safe from Wrackspurts." Luna told her with the dreamy look on her face like she was seeing something that noone else could see. 

Ava had no idea what Wrackspurts were, but it was a selfmade present to keep her safe and she liked Luna even more because of it. She hugged the blonde girl and told all the other kids her thanks. Soon it was time for dinner and after that the kids left and Ava fell exhausted into he bed. 

It was Lucius who saw the letters from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. Dobby was watching the Dursleys home the whole day to get the letters. It was the last known residence of Ava, Malfoy Manor and Slytherin Castle were unplottable and no school owls would be able to fly through the wards. All the other letters for the Malfoy family were delivered to a small victorian villa. The elves would get the letters and deliver it to Lucius. He smiled, maybe this was a sign, that they indeed should send Ava to a different school. He would talk to her in the morning.


	22. Decisions

The next few days went by and Ava and Luna were in the stables every day. Luna told Ava about Nargles and Wrackspurts and Ava told Luna about muggles. There was no need to tell Luna about her relatives, somehow she knew that Ava was abused. Before Luna left she told Ava "I will go with you." She went through the floo and left a confused Ava behind. 

That evening Ava sat on her bed with Smokey in her lap. She had told the Kneazle a lot about her relatives in the last days. She decided that today she would try the collar out.

"I don't know if this works, but I give it a try." she paused and smiled at the Kneazle that was watching her. "I have told Smokey a lot in the last days and somehow I feel a bit better, lighter somehow but I still have so much on my mind.. they.. uhm .. they called me freak my whole life. I was five when they first told me my real name was Ava. They told me that my parents died in a car accident because my dad was driving after drinking. The car crashed and both died. They told me I was the reason why they were always drinking.. that I was a burden." She paused again and inhaled deep before she continued. "They started beating me when I was small, I can't remember a time without beatings. Vernon was always angry. He was angry when I cooked too little food, he was angry when I cooked too much, I couldn't make it right. All I ever wanted was to be loved, like they loved Dudley. But they told me that noone could love a freak, that I don't deserve to be loved." She was crying now and let go of the button to wipe away the tears. Smokey pushed his own face into her hands and began to purr. She smiled a tearful smile and pushed the button again. "I know they lied to me. Thank you so much for helping me." She went to the bathroom and after that she finally went to bed. Smokey slept besides her the whole night. 

In another room of the Manor Severus and Lucius were reading what Ava had told her cat. Both were stunned, they knew that the Dursleys were evil, but telling a small child that she was the reason for her parents dead and beating her only for existing was even more wicked. Again they asked themselves how the Potters would have introduced her to the family. 

"I am proud of her." Severus told Lucius. "I know how hard it is to tell people about your abuse" He whispered the last part and Lucius came over to him and gave his shoulder a supporting squeeze. 

"She will heal, it will take a lot of time, but she will heal."

They both thought for a while and then went to their respective bedrooms. 

In the morning Severus found another entry in the notebook.

"I had a nightmare again. I am always dreaming about my uncle. The dreams are all the same, he uses the belt on me and then he holds me down. I am always fighting him but he so big. Noone hears my cries for help, not that there was anybody who would help... In the last days I thought a lot about my future. I am afraid, to be honest. I don't know if I am ready for Hogwarts. Luna told me about another school, it is in france. I don't know if this would be a better choice. I am afraid of meeting my brother and the adult Potters. I never want to go back to the Dursleys, I am afraid that the Potters will take me away from all the persons I trust. Luna told me she would be with me no matter what I choose. I need help with the choice. I feel that I am not ready to make a decision like that on my own. Please help me with it."

And so the adults helped her. In the end they decided it would be best if Ava would go to Beauxbatons. As a heiress she would be allowed to come home every other weekend and she would come home over the Samhain and Yule breaks and of course the summer months. The only sad thing for her was that Severus would be at Hogwarts and not at Beauxbatons. But Sirius assured her that the Blacks had a two way mirrors, which she could use as a way to contact Severus. And she always could use the button on Smokeys collar. 

Sirius decided he would take Ava to Diagon Alley to show her around the magical street before she would leave soon. He wanted her to get to know a bit more of the British wizarding world. It was a risky plan, but when he told the dark Lord, he promised to send someone as an escort.

Ava was introduced to Fenrir Greyback and the LeStrange brothers by the dark Lord before they visited Diagon Alley. The brothers were a part of her family and both were happy to finally get to know little Ava. Rabastan LeStrange was the one that would accompany them. 

The brothers were really funny, well the light side feared them, but in reality they were giant goofballs. 

Fenrir was a bit scary at first, but as soon as he smelled Avas fear, he went into full Alpha mode. He made Ava a hot chocolate and sat down with her. He asked her why she feared him and soon after they sat down she told him that she was scared of him because he was so big and she was afraid he could or would overpower her like her uncle tried to. He assured her that he would never do such a thing. He was a man of honor and he would never harm a woman even less a child. The only ones he would fight and sometimes kill were his enemies and he made sure they died a quick death. Contrary to what the light side promoted, the dark side only kills when they are under attack and there is no other way out. But as always the grandfather look of Dumbledore fools a large part of the wizarding population.

He told her about his wolf form and at the end of the day Ava decided that he was her personal big bad wolf. He would keep her safe against all evil, but he won't hold back against everybody that tried to harm her.

The next day Rabastan came over to travell to Diagon Alley together with Ava and Sirius.

Ava got her wand in another alley, Sirius wasn't very fond of Ollivander. He was a follower of Dumbledore and he surely would tell the order that Ava was with him in Diagon Alley. It was just a matter of time till they would met some of the order members. As soon as they were seen, Dumbledore would know that Ava wasn't with the Dursleys anymore. He was sure, that Dumbledore would try something to get Ava back under his thumb. 

When they left the bookstore, he saw the first member of the order. It was Kingsley, the older man was a follower of Dumbledore but still used his own brain. Soon Molly Weasley arrived and she began to scream at Sirius.

"How dare you, kidnapping a small child. Tear her out of her loving family, shame on you Sirius. We are so ashamed of you" 

Ava backed away as soon as Molly began to scream, this woman frightened her. Rabastan came up behind her and pulled her closer to him. 

"Shh... you are safe dear, Dogs that bark won't bite and Sirius is an even meaner dog, ya know." he laughed and after he saw Sirius tilting his head, he pulled Ava into the closest alleyway and disapparated away. He held her close, even after they were back at Grimmauld Place. Remus came running down the stairs, worried after the wards went off. Only a few seconds later Sirius arrived also. He informed Remus off the encounter with the order and the four of them flooed over to Malfoy Manor. 

 

Back in Dumbledores office Molly and Kinglsey were telling him what has happened. 

"Sirius has her. The traitor has her." She screamed at him.

"Now now, calm down Molly. Who is with Sirius?" he asked, his eyes twinkling. He was in full grandfather mode. 

"Ava is with Sirius, he has found her and they were shopping in Diagon Alley" Kingsley told him more calmly.

The twinkle immediately left his eyes. The girl was gone. The damned muggles never told him. He paid them for keeping the girl, and they never bothered to tell him that she was gone. He needed to visit them, he needed to know how long she was gone. How much time Sirius had to tell her everythig. 

"Get out, I need to think." He dismissed both.

He went into his private quarters and got ready for his visit. He hated the Dursleys, but this visit was necessary. 

 

Back at Malfoy Manor Lucius and Severus were angry. They were against Avas trip to Diagon Alley and their fears proved to be real. Now the order and Dumbledore were aware that they had Ava. They were glad that Ava would go to france soon. Beauxbarton was the safest place for Ava to study. 

After another discussion, this time with the dark Lord and Fenrir present, they decided that they would send Rabastan as Avas personal bodyguard with her to france. Fenrir wanted to be the one, but he was needed as the leader of the werewolves. Rabastan was the best choice. All the heirs were allowed to bring a person for their own safety. Another thing that was different to Hogwarts. In Hogwarts they were alone.

That evening Ava was sitting on her bed again. Smokey was again in her lap. She pushed the button and began to talk.

"I was at Diagon Alley today, it was fantastic. I got a wand. My own, real wand. It's made of Larch wood with a phoenix feather core. I hope I can fulfill the expectations, I want to make them all proud. When we were there, we met a horrific woman, she was loud and scary. She reminded me of uncle Vernon. I was scared but then Rabastan brought me back to Grimmauld place. Sirius home. After he arrived we went home. I know it was the right decision to choose the school in france. Learning the language is hard. Narcissa is helping me and I will have a tutor before I have to leave. Oh and Luna was accepted too. I am really happy that she is coming with me. She is a really good friend. But I am sad that I have to leave my family behind. I will miss them all terribly." 

 

Time went by fast and soon the day of Avas departure came. Luna was with her, together they would use an international port-key to travel to france. Rabastan was waiting for them to get ready. 

Ava had tears in her eyes when she said goodbye to her family.

"I will miss you all so much. Please write me?"

"I promies darling. We will write you every day and you can come every second weekend." Narcissa hugged her again. 

"Stay safe Ava, I have the mirror with me, should you need me, just let me know." Severus told her while she gave him a hug also. She nodded into his robes before she stepped back. She took one last look at her family before she went over to Luna and Rabastan. Luna was holding Smokey in her arms and Rabastan had the trunks. There was a featherlight charm on them, so he could cary both of them. With a swirl they were gone.


	23. Growing up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeskip.  
> This chapter starts after Avas 6th year.

It was summer, tomorrow was Avas birthday. She would be seventeen and Lucius would introduce her to the Wizengamont officially. It was the year when she would be an adult in the wizarding society and as a Lady and a heiress she was expected to present herself. This was an important step to her adulthood. She was able to establish contacts and alliances for her future and maybe find her husband or wife amongst them. 

While Ava was going to school in france the dark Lord and Lucius had destroyed Dumbledores reputation. They revoked all the illegal laws, the creature registry was banned and the dark side gained a lot of followers. The light side lost many many followers, some went to the dark fraction but more went to the neutral one. The dark Lord was now known as Lord Marvolo Slytherin, the dark mark disappeared. His followers were now wearing a small mark between their shoulder blades, it was a small white flower, nothing that would allude to something dark. Dumbledore worked hard against them, but when they presented the proofs of his stealing of seats, the linetheft and his deeds as a headmaster, people left his side. Noone wanted a headmaster that would support abusive households. Since they found Ava, Dumbledore not only lost Chief Warlock position, he also lost his position as headmaster of Hogwarts, a lot of followers and even more money. The only ones that would still stand besides him were the Potters and the Weasleys, Mad-Eye, Tonks and a few others. 

Ava was introduced as Lady Ava Lyra Gaunt-Burke-Peverell, heiress to the houses of Black, LeStrange and Slytherin. After her first session and many conversations they left back to Malfoy Manor. Since Avas first year in france she was more open to other persons, but still would keep most of her thoughts for herself or would only tell her family and Severus about it. She was still insecure in a big crowd and sometimes she would still flinch back at fast movements, but her nightmares were nearly gone and she was all in all a happy young witch. Severus was a great help in her development, she was still talking through Smokeys collar to his notebooks. She was wearing it around her wrist since her scond year in school. He would read the entries and talk to her about it through the mirrors, while she was in france. 

 

Ava was nervous, soon all the guests to her birthday party would arrive. With the help of Sirius and Lucius she made a courting contract. At first Sirius was against the contract, but he knew he had promised her he would never set a marriage up for her and that she should marry out of love. Lucius was the one who helped with the laws and traditions. 

She knocked on the door, and after a soft "enter" she opened it and looked over to the desk where he was sitting. 

"Ava, what a pleasure to see you so soon again."

She nodded and came over to him.

"I.. mm.. I wanted to present you with... withacourtingcontract." the last words where only a whisper.

"A courting contract?" She nodded "Why?"

"Because you mean so much to me. Because you are the person I trust the most, bevause you are always there for me. Because I love you Severus. I could tell you hundreds of reasons. Would you do me the honour and let me court you?" 

"Ava." he stopped and looked at her big pleading eyes. "I can't do this, Ava. You are a young bright witch and I am an old sullen man. You deserve so much better." 

She whispered a nearly silent "no" before she shoke her head. "Please don't reject me." 

"Please think about it Ava..." but before he could tell her more Ava was running from his room. He went after her but when he was standing in the hallway, she was already gone.

"What have you done?" the dark Lord asked him. Lucius and Fenrir were standing behind him. 

"I assume Ava gave you the contract?" Lucius asked.

"You knew?"

"Of course we knew. We wrote it with her." Lucius told him with a scowl on his face, his Slytherin mask gone for a moment. 

"Where is she now, Severus?" The dark Lord wanted to know.

"She ran out of my room." He told him, his eyes on the floor. 

"What have you told her? Please tell me you didn't hurt her." Lucius was worried now. 

"I told her that she deserves more than me and that she should think about it." He sighed. 

"You fool." Lucius roared, something he rarely does. "Have you though for one second how much it has cost Ava to get her courage together and finally ask you? This girl loves you Severus, she is in love with you since the end of her third year. She even got Sirius on her side and you reject her?" Lucius was furious. 

"We thought you were feeling the same for her, that's why we encouraged her to give you the contract." The dark Lord added. 

"It is wrong to have those feelings, she is a still a child." Severus replied. They were right, he had feelings for Ava, but it was wrong to have thise feelings towards her. She was a child and he felt as if he was taking advantage of her if he would allow himself to submit to his feelings. 

"She is more grown up than some adults I know. And as of today, she is an adult in our society. Severus you need to find her and get this sorted out. She wants you and you want her, there is nothing wrong with it." Lucius, now calmer, told him.

"She is still so young Lucius, what if she gets bored of me? What if she finds someone around her age? I can't go through that." Severus was still looking at the floor.

"We are talking about Ava, Severus, she will never get bored of you, she adores you. You are her world. Go, find your girl."

"I will help you, I have an idea where she went." It was the first time Fenrir said something.

Severus only nodded and made his way over to the floo with Fenrir. They went over to Grimmauld Place to find it in riuns.

 

Tonks and Remus were laying in the kitchen, the witch was dead and Remus unconscious. Severus cast a Patronus and a few seconds later Lucius, Draco, the dark Lord and Sirius were at Grimmauld Place. 

"What the hell happened here?" It was Sirius, he was staring hat his mate, who was now laying on the sofa, with Severus standing besides him. 

"We came her only a few minutes ago and found everything like this, we only laid Remus on the couch."

"Rennervate" Severus said and Remus woke up, groaning. 

"Oww.. damn. I am feeling like a Hippogryph stomped on my body." then his eyes went wide "where is Ava?" he looked over to the other adults, with worry in his eyes. 

"She is not here, what happened?" the dark Lord tol Remus.

"I don't know.. they somehow followed me home. I think Tonks went into the floo the second I told my destination. She was there when I came through and immediately began to cast spells againts me. Then suddenly Ava came through the floo , at the same time the front door was blown out of its angles. I don't know who they were, but they must have her." He began to stand up, only to be pushed back down by Sirius. 

"We have to find her. This is Dumbledores work. Sirius stay with Remus, floo over to the castle as soon as possible and alert my inner circle. I need them to find the other order members. We need to know where they brought her." 

"This is all my fault." Severus sighed. She was kidnapped because he acted like a child. The girl, no the woman, he loved was now in the hands of the worst magical persons he could imagine. 

~~~~~~~

Ava was gone for two days and still they had no lead. 

They all were sick with worry. Severus was sitting in his room when his eyes fell on the notebook on his bedside table. There were two new entries. He read the first one.

"Severus, I hope you read this. I am so sorry I ran away. This is all my fault. Please don't be angry with me. I am fine. Well not exactly fine but they haven't done anything to me. I can't use my rings to escape from here. They forced magic surpressing cuffs on my wrists and I have a shackle around my ankle. I think I am in a cellar, but there is no window in this room. Please get me out of here."

The second entry was shorter.

"Please find me. I don't know who they are but I am afraid."

Severus ran over to Lucius study and firecalled Marvolo and Sirius. They came over as soon as they heard what Severus had found. 

"We need to find all the properties and search them." Marvolo said.

"I will kill them, when I find them, they are dead. If they touch her.." Sirius was fuming. He was pacing up and down in the study.

"I have a list of properties. Marvolo, could you send this over to the other elite members?"

"We need to find out if they have other properties. I will send the werewolves. They are able to smell her." 

And with that they all began the search again. 

In the evening they all came back together, but still they had no lead, it was as if the order never existed, they all were gone. 

Soon Ava was gone for a week. The adults all were looking worn. Neither of them was able to sleep.

There were no new entries in the notebook and Severus became more desperate each day, he felt guilty. Because of his reaction Ava went over to Grimmauld Place and into the hands of the light side. The others weren't any better. 

Finally on the seventh day, another entry appeared. 

"Severus, I really hope you read this. They are watching me, this is the first time I am able to talk to you. They are starving me, I only get water each day and a bit of stale bread. I think they want me weak. They tried to use compulsions on me, but my rings prevent them. Please write Harry Potter. I believe his parents have me. Get Marvolo and let him open my schooltrunk. There is a hidden compartment, the wards are in parselmouth. The password is.. mm. it is.. doe. Like your patronus. Write him and find me. Please I am growing weaker."

They found all of the letters. It has started in her third year. Harry wrote to her and it seems like it took Ava three more letters from him to finally answer. He apologized for his ignorance. That he never asked his parents about his smaller sister. Shortly before the first letter he had overheared his father and Dumbledore talking about her. They talked about how they should have kept her and should have trained her themselves. How they would have kept her servile. He overheared their plans on getting back at the dark side and how they wanted to hurt them. He was disgusted about all of it. But he needed to know more so he stayed with his parents until his seventh year. He couldn't bear it any longer. Lily was staying with Tonks most of the time. She also was sick of her husbands plans. With the help of the Weasley twins he moved out of his parents home and he was living with the twins now. He told Ava how worried he was about her future. He knew that his parents and Dumbledore had planned someting. 

And so Severus flooed over to the Weasley twins shop. The twins and Harry were shocked after Severus told them about the entries in the notebook and immediately started to make plans. The twins would observe their parents and the two younger siblings and Harry would observe his own parents. Remus and Fenrir were watching Moody. 

 

When he returned to Malfoy Manor he saw another entry.

"Severus, the Potters have me. There is another old man and I think Dumbledore. The one with a wooden leg and James talked about how they are going to train me. I am so afraid Severus. They want me to sign a marriage contract. They want to marry me off to one Ronald Weasley. Please get me out of here. They are going to beat me Severus. They want to beat the reluctance out of me. Help me, please." 

Noone was able to find out where the Potters, Dumbledore or Moody were hiding. The Weasleays were still at home and living like nothing was wrong.

On the evening of the same day, there was another entry.

"Oh please get me out of here. They have beat me up. I have at least one broken rib. James and the one with the wooden leg took turns on me. I don't know how much longer I can fight them. Please help me."

They all were furious. The light side was pure evil, beating a kid because they wanted to punish some adults. Severus was pacing, still noone had a lead and he was helpless. He wanted to tell her that everything will be ok. That he would safe her and would heal and hold her. That noone could ever take her away from him again. 

After another sleepless night. Fenrir finally was able to find Moody, but no lead to the cellar were Ava was held hostage. The LeStrange brothers together with Marvolo were questioning the old man. Severus was waiting in the hallway with Remus and Sirius. Lucius was at the Ministry and Narcissa and Draco were at Madame Zabinis home. They heared the screams from inside of the room, but after a few hours of torture they still had no answers. With another entry in the notebook, Severus finally snapped and pushed the door open to hurt the bastard himself.

"Severus, get out. We are handling this." The dark Lord told him.

"No, I need to know where she is, I need to get the answers now." He had tears running down his cheeks. 

Marvolo looked at him and immediately knew that something happened. He went outside and took the Notebook out of Sirius trembling hands.

"I can't fight them any longer. I am too weak. James told me that I would have no choice, once I am carrying Rons child. Severus they are going to rape me. This is Vernon all over again. I can't take it anymore. Please don't try to find me any longer. When the day is over, I am broken. I love you Severus, always."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this was a bit fast, but I wanted her to be an adult and this was the only way to get there this fast.   
> Please leave me some reviews :)


	24. Help

The notebook fell out of his hands and hit the floor, but he was already back in the room. His rage trained at Moody. Severus was sitting on the floor. Rabastan was kneeling besides him, his arms wrapped around the other man. Severus was crying. It broke Marvolos heart even more. 

"You will never find her in time. Once she is pregnant, Ron can claim her as his wife." He was lauhging. It was an evil, crazy laugh and the dark Lord was sure that he wasn't the only one on the light side that was insane.

Just when he wanted to cast another spell, Harry's patronus appeared in the room. 

"We know where she is. Come to the Burrow immediately." 

A flick of his wrist and a voicless Avada Kedavra later, Moody was dead and the wizards on their way.

Fred and George were able to put a tracking charm on their little brother. He was too excited to notice it. They found out that Molly and Ron were in a small house in the woods in Ireland. There was nothing around the house, only trees. They alerted Harry and after a few minutes Harry, the dark Lord, Sirius, Remus, the LeStranges, Fenrir with some more werewolves and Severus were standing besides them. They were making plans how to get through the wards without alerting Dumbledore and the others, when they heared screaming coming from inside of the house. 

Severus crashed the wards and ran into the house, followed by all the others. Fenrir was the first after him to enter the house. What they saw made them all see red. James and and Peter Pettigrew were holding Ava down while Ron was in the middle of getting undressed. Dumbledore was placing some candles around Ava, it seems like he had planned to use some ritual. Molly had her arms around Lilys waist and was holding her back. Both, Ava and Lily were crying and Ava repeated "no" again and again. Lily was pleading with her husband to let go of Ava.

It was a matter of seconds and all the wizards and Molly were on their knees. Peter Pettigrew tried to escape in his rat form but the dark Lord was faster, Peter would never be able to become a human again. He died as the rat he always was- A sobing Lily was running to Ava, who was now curled into herself on the ground. Ava was only wearing underwear and was trying to cover as much of her body as possible. 

Severus kneeled besides her, a sharp "don't" had Lily stopping in her tracks, not daring to touch Ava. He got out of his cloak and covered her body with it. Ava was crying silently and gripped the cloak with one of her hands. 

"Ava, I am here." Severus told her quietly while the wizards around him were dragging the screaming light side out of the front door. 

Ava sobbed and opened her eyes to look at Severus who was offering her his hand. She wimpered and took Severus' hand. Severus carefully pulled her towards his own body. She turned her body towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She sobbed into his hair, while Severus arms came around her waist to pull her even closer to him.  
"I am so sorry Ava." he kissed the top of her head and the grip she had on him tightened and she nodded into his neck. "I will never let you out of my sight again. I thought I would loose you. Please forgive me Ava." 

"Always. Please... please take me away from here, take me home." Severus nodded and disapparated. 

He took the now sleeping woman to his own bedroom and laid her down on his bed, she wimpered at the loss of contact but stayed asleep. He took some vials out of his robe and began to heal the wounds on Avas body. He knew that the other would take care of their prisoners. He would take care of his love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this was short. But now the fluff can begin <3


	25. The question

The next morning came and when Ava woke up, she she had a body wrapped around herself. She felt panic for a few seconds, until she remembered that Severus came for her. That he safed her, again, from harm. She inhaled and smelled his scent. His arms around her tightened and she fell asleep again. 

The next day came and went by in a blurr. Ava slept for nearly two days and only woke up for a few minutes every few hours. Severus was with her the whole time. He healed her wounds and spelled some potions into her stomach. After the first day, he stopped after tending to her wounds and sat besides her on the bed. He looked at her, really looked at her and then he smiled. With the smile on his face, he tucked one of her locks behind her ear and leaned forward to give her a kiss on her forehead. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid his eyes on and she wanted him. He still couldn't believe his luck. He watched her for a few more minutes before he got up again. He knew Lucius wanted to talk to him. 

He left the room to talk with Lucius in the hallway. He wanted to know what they were going to do with the light side and what would happen to Lily Potter. In the end Harry's, yes after all he had done it was Harry and not Potter, mother was a victim of the light side too. She wasn't aware what her husband had planned for Ava. She was against leaving the small child at the Dursleys, but in the end she agreed, because at that point she was still in love with her husband. He forced her to play the loving wife in public. He was the reason she had no other friends anymore. She was a prisoner in her own home, only allowed to get out when James was with her. He used to obliviate her when she heard something she shouldn't have. He did the same to Harry. The poor boy was lied to his whole life. No wonder he was acting all Gryffindor in school. Ron Weasley was paid to be his friend, the same with Ginny who was paid to be his future wife. Both knew the light sides plans and were to keep the boy oblivious. Hermione was the only true friend and it was only a matter of time till both would be aware that there was more than just friendship. Severus saw the looks they were giving each other in school, he never understood why the boy was with Ginny. 

Lucius was already there and waiting for his old friend. 

"Severus, how is she?"

"She is sleeping. I healed her wounds and gave her some potions, but she has to wake up on her own, her body is exhausted."

Lucius nodded and looked at the wooden door behind Severus, before he continued.

"They are all in the dungeons. Madame Bones was allerted and some of the Aurors will be here soon. They are going to give them a trial." Then he smirked "But it doesn't matter what they decide, the Goblins already held their trials, Dumbledore, James and Molly will be beheaded as soons as the Wizengamot session is over. Arthur, Ginny and Ron will have to work in their mines, till they have paid all the money that was given to them from Dumbledore before they go to Azkaban." 

Severus nodded, this was better than expected. As soon as Ava would wake up, he would ask her for forgivness again and he would ask for her hand in marriage. The days when she was missing gave him enough time to think it all through. He was as in love with her, as she was with him and now she was an adult in the wizarding world and noone would say something against it. Sirius and the dark Lord helped him with his plans. Both were glad that Severus finally was able to see what everybody else was seeing. 

Sirius went to Gringotts for him, to get the rings out of the Prince vaults. The ring for Ava was beautiful. It was a small golden band with a bigger flower in the middle. The flower was filled with small diamonds with a bigger one in the middle. It was a valuable ring, but it wasn't too showy. He would give it to Ava, if she still wants to have him. 

Both men talked a bit more before Severus went back into his room and Lucius went to his study. He would tell the others how Ava was doing at the moment. 

Severus gave Dobby the order to bring him a small meal and the latest issue of the Potions magazines he likes to read. He sat down at his desk and ate the meal and after that he read the magazine. When Ava wimpered in her sleep, he went over to the bed and sat down besides her, holding one of her hands. Later that evening he laid down next to her, like he had done the night before. 

When he woke up the next morning, Ava was laying with her head on his chest and one of her legs over his own. Then he heard her talking, the reason why he woke up. It seemed like she was talking to herself.

"Please don't leave me, I won't survive another seperation. I love you Severus." She then kissed his chest before she laid her head back down. 

He smiled and old her "I love you too Ava." 

The only response was a sharp inhale. 

"Look at me Ava." He told her before his hand reached for her chin to make her look at him. His thumb gently traced her cheekbone.

"I don't understand." She looked at him with her wide green eyes. 

"Ava, I am so sorry that I gave you the impression that I would reject you. Please let me explain." He looked at her and after her nod he continued. "I was never a nice man Ava. I was always sour and joyless. Before I found you my life was blank. You gave me a reason to look forward again. It was your choice, all those years ago, you could have chosen Narcissa or even Lucius. And I promised to keep you safe, to help you heal and to make you happy. I am in love with you Ava, I have been since you sixteenth birthday. At first I thought this feelings were wrong, because I am so much older than you but I realised that age doesn't matter when true love is found. Ava, please forgive me for my foolishness."

"I will always forgive you Severus."

He leaned closer to Ava before he looked her in the eyes and asked.

"Ava, you deserve the very best, someone who will back you up without limits, let you grow without borders, and love you without end. Will you let me be the one?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the ring I had in mind, isn't it beautiful?  
> https://www.delilahaccessories.com/wp-content/uploads/ehering-diamant-inspirierend-tolle-ehering-diamant-inspiration-von-ehering-diamant-of-ehering-diamant.jpg


	26. An end and a new beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for not posting earlier but I had a hard time to come up with the next chapter.

Ava was only able to nod. And within seconds Severus' lips were on her own and they shared their very first, sweet kiss. He took her hand and carfully pushed the ring on her ringfinger and then kissed her on the forehead. Ava held her hand in front of her and looked at the ring on her finger. 

"It is wonderful, Severus." She looked up at and smiled widely. Severus smiled back at her, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. 

Shortly after Dobby popped into the room and served breakfast. They ate in bed and then got ready to go to Lucius study. 

 

A few days later the trials were held. Ava decided that she would stay at home and let Lucius, Marvolo and Severus handle it. She wasn't ready to see her tormentors again. 

It was a long trial and all who were attending, were already tired after the first day. 

The prisoners still thought they were doing the right thing with kidnapping a young witch and trying to force her into a marriage and so they pleaded for innocent. After two more long days Ron was the first who got his punishment. 

He was sentenced to 20 years in the mines and and 10 years in Azkaban. He would never have access to his full magic again, he would be forced to wear magic surpressing cuffs for the rest of his live. Severus wanted a harsher restribution but Ron was just a kid, a kid who was manipulated his whole life. His parents and Dumbledore told him what to do and what to think and after a while he stoped asking questions and just did what was asked. 

Ginny was the next. She would have to work for 10 years and she also would never have full access to her magic. 

Lily was sentenced to 10 years in Azkaban and a live in the mines till all the Potter debts were paid. Her sentence was a surprise, but she deserved to have a small reward for trying to help Ava, so her magic wasn't surpressed by cuffs. 

The other adults were brought to Gringotts for their punishments. After a lot of foul words from James Potter, the Goblins finally brought them to their end. With the last one dead, Severus was able to breath again. Till the last minute he feared that Dumbledore would somehow get away, but now the old fool was gone.

 

After Severus got home, he searched for Ava and found her in the library. She was sitting in one of the big leather chairs with her legs under her body and an old tome in her lap. 

He walked over to her and wrapped his long arms around her small form. "It is done my love." Once again Severus thought how lucky he was. Soon he would be married to this beautiful witch. 

"Everything went well I assume?" She smiled and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Indeed. Ron, Ginny and Lily are working for the Goblins and are going to stay in Azkaban. They will never come near you again. The Goblins beheaded the others this evening."

Ava nodded and turned her upper body towards Severus . 

"We are free, Severus, free." She gave him a shy kiss on his lips and then leaned her forehead against Severus'. 

"Narcissa wants to visit Paris with you, Lucius told me about it before we came back home."

"Yes, I know. She wants to help me find a dress. You have no idea how much time she spends on making plans for our wedding." She huffed but smiled.

"I can imagine. Cissa was always the type for it." Severus chuckled and pulled her even closer to him. 

They stayed in the library for another few hours, talking about the plans for the wedding and about the books they were currently reading. The whole time they held each other, finally able to enjoy themselves. When it was time for dinner Dobby came and told them to go to the family dining room. After dinner they had a small party to celebrate the victory over the evil. 

 

With Narcissas help, Ava soon found the perfect wedding dress, it only took her five days of shopping in Paris and another four in Italy. The next thing on their agenda was the party after the wedding. They planed all the snacks that would be served and the grand dinner. They would all portkey over to the destination at the evening before the wedding, while Narcissa and Ava would travel there a day earlier. They had to decorate everything before the rest would arrive. Luna, lovely little Luna, was a big help, she was already there to take care of her own little surprise for Ava. 

 

The wedding was held in a small chapel in an even smaller town in Germany. The chapel was an old one with a lot of old paintings and a beautiful flower garden around it. Severus was standing in front of the altar, waiting for his young wife. Lucius and Marvolo were standing next to him. The chapel was decorated with white and rose colored flowers. 

When the doors opened, Luna came in first. 

Instead of scattering flowers she released small butterflies. She was wearing a light blue dress with even more butterflies all over it. They moved over the dress with every move the girl made. Her hair was pinned up and she was smiling brightly. 

She had found a love of her own in Harry's friend Neville Longbottom, who was smiling at her. When she passed the row where he was standing, she winked at him and smiled even brighter. 

She released the last butterflies as she was standing in front of the altar and then moved to stand on the brides side. 

One of the butterflies landed on the small white flower on Severus' wedding robe. Like always he was clothed all in black and the flower was the only thing that had a different color. His robes were made of the finest silk and he was wearing dragon hide shoes. 

When the doors opened the next time, they revealed Sirius Black. He was wearing silken robes too, but his were dark blue with a white shirt under it. He was standing totaly still, waiting for the bride to be ready. 

Finally the music started to play and similar to a muggle wedding the bride came in. Severus inhaled sharply and tried to fight the tears, when he saw his beautiful little witch walk in.


	27. Epilogue

Ava was sitting under her favorite tree in her garden. This was her favorite place in the whole garden, she could hear the water from the waterfall in the pond which was filled with magical and non-magical fishes.

It was a warm and sunny day in August and for the first time for the last few weeks she had some hours to spend on her own. First she started to read a new book about runes, but after a few chapters she wasn't able to concentrate any longer and so she took out her scetch book and started to wotk on a new black and white painting.

Soon her best friend Luna and her husband Neville would come for a visit. Draco was in the potions lab with Severus and the Malfoys and Marvolo would be over for dinner later. Sirius was at Diagon Alley with his godson and Remus, but would come home later that evening. Her brother Harry was in America to work with the Weasley twins on expanding their shop. 

The wind was playing with her light and white summer dress and her dark locks where flying around her face while the hand that wasn't holding the scetch book was running over her large belly. Soon her second child would be born. 

Every time she was sitting under that tree, she was thinking about her life. Her life with Severus, just after the wedding. She thought about the vows they had made for each other, tying their souls, minds and bodies together forever. Then her first time with Severus, how careful he was with her small body. How he had worshiped her body while he was bringing her higher and higher. She climaxed more than once that evening before he gave into his own pleasure. She still smiled when she thought about her first time. 

Since then,they had both explored the others body hundreds of times. And now, for the second time, she had the result of these encounters inside of her belly. 

One year after the wedding their son Regulus Marvolo Black-Prince had been born. He was a happy baby, always smiling and giggling. He was now three years old and soon would be the older brother to the girl that was still growing inside of her. Reggie had his fathers black hair and her green eyes, but everything else was a mix of both of them. Severus would read to him every evening while she would play with his hair till he would fall asleep. They were a happy little family.

 

The wizarding world was still far from perfect, but her own small world and her family was perfect and she was enjoying it every day.


End file.
